Protect those porkers! Vegan activists’ bid to save school’s pigs from chop
WHEN headmaster Peter Harris bought two piglets for his school, he hoped to teach his pupils valuable lessons about food production.
Children at Farsley Farfield Primary School, near Leeds, have spent the academic year lovingly rearing the two Gloucester Old Spots at the on-site farm.
But the next stage of Mr Harris’s plan – which involves having the animals slaughtered and selling off their meat – has not gone down quite as well.
Furious animal rights activists have launched a petition on the website Change. org to save the pigs before they are killed this summer. It claims their deaths will be ‘traumatising’ for the children, while some parents have called it ‘cruel’ and ‘disgusting’ on social media.
The petition – with over 2,000 signatures – was set up around seven months ago by an outraged former student – who is also a vegan – calling herself Ix Willow.
Writing on the website, she said: ‘My main concerns are with the wellbeing of these pigs. Pigs are as intelligent as dogs and at least as smart as a three-year-old human child. They are friendly animals that can live for about 12 years or so.’ She added: ‘Schools have a duty of care to support children, teach them fair values and to provide a safe and happy environment for them. By teaching children that it is okay to exploit and kill animals they are in breach of this.’
According to Miss Willow, vegan activists have been ‘having modest demos with placards... outside the school once a month’.
The pigs – which are about a year old – live on a mini-farm on the school’s grounds, which also contains vegetable patches and hens.
The school was named ‘healthy school of the year’ at the Times Educational Supplement’s Schools Awards in 2017. It has one ‘meat free’ day a week and there are boards at the farm explaining why meat consumption must be reduced.
Mr Harris – who is a vegetarian himself – said on the school’s website: ‘Through keeping the pigs the children will learn more about the provenance of their food... I think that we are raising awareness of the meat industry, and some of the issues around animal welfare and sustainability...
‘I don’t think that we are desensitising the children, I suggest that our children will be more knowledgeable and sensitive to animal welfare than most of their peers.’
The head teacher added: ‘A key element of this project is to discuss the need to reduce meat consumption.’ One supportive parent said: ‘I fully support the teaching of the pig’s life cycle, children should be made aware of where their food comes from.’ Pupil Charlotte Heap, 11, also jumped to her school’s defence, insisting the children understood the pigs would go to slaughter from the start and that ‘no one is upset’. Charlotte told the Yorkshire Evening Post: ‘We’re not seeing the slaughter and we don’t have anything to do with it... Most of us are fine with the idea.’ She added: ‘We’ve all learned a lot from this... and Mr Harris is a vegetarian himself. He wants people to make their own choices in life and to know where their food actually comes from. I think that’s important.’
‘Children are sensitive to animal welfare’