School chicken project delayed

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Does it get any sicker? The "Chicken Project" is over, at least for now. As part of anecology class at Canandaigua Academy students raised live chickens,and then killed them to better understand where the food they eatcomes from. Critics called it unnecessary and cruel. The schoollistened, and now the course curriculum will be reviewed before adecision on whether it's reinstated is made.The debate around this issue begins with a simple reality; you don'toften think about where the food you eat comes from, right? Chickenbegins on a farm, and that's the point behind this Canandaigua Academyecology class. Students raise hens from a few days old, until they'rematured at ten weeks of age."They build a relationship with those birds in the sense that a farmerbuilds a relationship with a bird like that," Andy Thomas, aCanandaigua School

District spokesman explained.Then, just like on any chicken farm, there's a slaughter."Yes, in the end, it always gets to that point," Thomas said. "Thatdifficult moment when the slaughtering day occurs."It's difficult for some students who actively debate the ethicaldecision as much as they discuss the decisions leading up to thatdecision such as what to feed their birds and how to care for them.It's also a difficult moment for concerned animal rights advocate JoelFreedman and others....The chickens used in this experiment are specifically bred for humanconsumption; they grow quickly and proportionally large in certainareas, and school leaders say they often don't live much beyond tenweeks because of their breeding. At any point in the process studentsof this elective course have the option of not participating if theyfeel uncomfortable.-- full story:http://www.13wham.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=3ba82445-c943-444b-acb2-c30a816f2b1c http://pets.Fortheanimals7/join http://www.myspace.com/fortheanimals7