The Clarion Ledger – Mississippi News

 

June 2, 2004

PETA launches kids campaign

Animal rights group makes stop in state to attract children to vegetarianism
The Associated Press

Fast facts
Mississippi will be a tough sell for PETA's "Chickens are Friends, Not Food" campaign. Poultry is the state's biggest commodity with $1.6 billion worth of broilers and eggs sold by the state last year.

The animal rights activists notorious for flinging fake blood at fashion models strutting runways in fur coats are using a gentle approach to turn children to vegetarianism.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals believes skyrocketing rates of childhood obesity makes vegetarianism seem palatable to children weaned on McNuggets. PETA introduced its "Chickens are Friends, Not Food" campaign last month with a road trip to elementary schools across the agricultural South. Jackson's Boyd Magnet School was PETA's Mississippi stop.

 

"We would never use shock tactics with children; it wouldn't be right," said PETA's vegan campaign coordinator Matt Rice. "Children are so naturally empathetic to animals that we focus on showing chickens as intelligent with distinctive personalities, just like pet cats and dogs."

 

Rice sent letters to 120 principals across the South asking to hold a PETA program for their school children. PETA wanted to show "The Secret Lives of Chickens," a nature film showing chickens roosting in trees, bopping to classical music and teaching their chicks how to eat grain. A PETA volunteer in a chicken suit would work the crowd. Children would get PETA trading cards as keepsakes.

 

But its tough for a group known for guerrilla theater to convince principals that the Sesame Street set is ready for PETA. "Not one principal responded to our letters," Rice said. So PETA organizers made their case from public sidewalks outside Boyd Magnet at the end of the school day.

 

Ravi Chand was a U.S. Marine who credits his vegan diet for his success as a triathlete, donned the chicken suit. He waved a sign reading "I'm Not a Nugget!"
Students paused before boarding their buses or getting into their parents' cars to stroke Chand's yellow feathers. They eagerly grabbed the PETA cards featuring "Tubby Tammy," "Sickly Sally" and "Cruel Kyle." The cartoon characters depict the alleged health effects of eating chicken.

"Then teachers tried to take the cards away from children who had already boarded buses," Rand said.

 

Boyd principal Julia Harris-Brown summoned Rice from the sidewalk to her office.
"I explained to him that PETA did not go to our school district's central office to get their materials and correspondence cleared," Brown said. "They make the decision about whether materials are age appropriate."

 

She reviewed the cards with Rice and even checked out the PETA web site designed for children.

"The cards are OK," Brown said, "although I have some objection to cards saying chickens live in their own pee and poop. I'd prefer a better word choice."

Brown was also concerned a computer-savvy child could easily links to PETA's web site for adults which describes how chickens' beaks are chopped off while they are alive.

"I have nothing against PETA," she said. "But parents have a right to expect that we reviewed materials their child gets near school. And we hadn't approved PETA's correspondence."

 

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