Write to:

Mark Trumbull, Director of Marketing Carnegie Science Center One Allegheny Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15212

Unfortunately, the exhibit opened, but our effort to remove the exhibit from the program is just getting started. The Pittsburgh group, Animal Advocates, visited the center this past weekend and said that of all the "exploration stations," the chick hatchery was of least interest to the children, because all the other sections are interactive and "hands-on," while this one is purely passive, so the kids stare at the chicks, then move on.

The activists who saw the hatchery said the chicks were pitiful. In addition to being alone coming out of their shells, there is no place for them to take refuge from the bright lights or the noise. They said the noise level was terrible, with some sort of drum program right next to the birds.

The center doesn't care about these birds; they're there as a tourist attraction modelled on the terrible decades-long hatchery at the Chicago Museum of Science & Industry--the place where the chicks go every week to feed the "reptile collection" at the Lincoln Park Zoo.

We believe we can get rid of the hatchery, but it will take more work. Please write to Seddon Bennington again. Please write to the marketing director Mark Trumbull. If you already wrote, tell them that you wrote a letter objecting to the hatchery, and you await a reply. One last word: one of the newspapers articles our protest spawned quoted Bennington as saying the chicks would be going back to a hatchery in Minnesota. (In the mail, of course.) The center never made any plans for these birds, and were taken by surprise by the opposition. Meanwhile, the birds are being hatched on a plastic grid in an exhibit Bennington told the newspapers is intended to present the "miracle of birth . . . in the context of its biology and relationship to natural systems," and to teach children "where the eggs come from."

A short thoughtful letter to Mr. Trumbull is most needed. Urge that the hatchery be eliminated. Thank you!

Send a copy of your letter to:

Seddon Bennington, Director Carnegie Science Center One Allegheny Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15212 Call: 1-412-237-3400 E-mail: benningtons@csc.clpgh.org

Other Information:
• 4/22/2000: Carnegie Science Center Chick Hatchery Protest
• 2/16/2000: Carnegie Science Ctr Promotes Animal & Child Abuse With Proposed Chick Hatchery
• 1/25/2000: Action Alert - OPPOSE Chick Hatchery "Education" Exhibit

United Poultry Concerns. March 1, 2000

(Action Alert - Update: Carnegie Chick Hatchery)