Starving chicks in egg-hatching lessons rescued from school

PRIMARY schools have been warned by the RSPCA not to use chicks as “teaching tools” after 19 “starving” birds were rescued by an animal charity.

The chicks were hatched at Oakridge Infant School, Basingstoke, Hants, as part of a project in which pupils learn how to take care of the chicks.

The school has carried out the same egg-hatching project for several years, with staff taking the chicks home at weekends.

However, a concerned receptionist at the school phoned Helping Dogs and Cats, an animal rescue charity, to have them rehomed because nobody wanted them.

Kirsty Wrightson, the rescue manager, called the egg-hatching project “cruel” and said there are “other ways to teach these children”.

She said: “They were picked up in a plastic box with no food, they were all wet and they were starving. We were happy we had got there.”

She added: “It’s cruel because they’re being bred to show children how eggs hatch and then they’re being killed. It’s not nice for them because [they can be] left at school overnight, handled by children and they’re not that gentle.”

The RSPCA has warned primary schools against using chicks as “disposable teaching tools” and urged them to consider whether they can “meet the welfare needs of the animal”.

Dave Allen, head of education at the RSPCA, said: “It’s also not as easy as people may think to find an appropriate home for the animals once they are fully grown and it’s often that local animal welfare charities are left to pick up the pieces.”

Libby Searle, assistant head teacher of the school, defended the project and said it was important for “educational purposes”. She said: “The children get a chance to see the eggs hatch and staff take them home over the weekend.

“It’s a good opportunity to look after the chicks. There is an option to rehome chicks, or the company we got them from can take them.”