UPC United Poultry
Concerns
August 2017
Hatching projects encourage the view that animals are disposable objects instead of requiring a lifetime of care and commitment. They encourage children to want to bring more baby animals into the world, like litters of puppies and kittens no one wants when the animals grow up.
Please sign and share this petition to the Secretary of State for Education in the UK:
Sign this online petition.
We hereby call upon Rt Hon Justine Greening MP - The Secretary of State for Education - to bring an immediate end to "The Living Eggs Project"* (and any other similar private enterprises) in state education establishments. This is for the following reasons:
* "The Living Eggs Project" is a for-profit private enterprise which sells 'incubation kits' (with fertilised eggs) to state schools for chicks to be born in the classroom environment for a brief project on life cycles. Similar private enterprises also use duck eggs.
From UPC's Hatching Good Lessons: Alternatives To School Hatching Projects
Some teachers place fertilized eggs in classroom incubators to be hatched
within three or four weeks as a lesson in embryonic development. Chickens,
ducks and quails are typically used in these projects. We urge teachers to
replace bird-hatching projects with learning activities that teach life
processes without the use of live animals.
Hatching projects encourage the view that animals are disposable objects
instead of requiring a lifetime of care and commitment. They encourage
children to want to bring more baby animals into the world, like litters of
puppies and kittens no one wants when the animals grow up. They place a
burden on animal shelters and busy parents who can’t keep the birds, and
zoning ordinances often prohibit the keeping of chickens, particularly
roosters, even though more than half of all surviving chickens are likely to
be roosters. And while children should be learning the importance of
veterinary care for animals who depend on them, most schools do not provide
veterinary care for the many birds born sick and deformed in these projects.
Hatching-project birds are deprived of a mother hen. This is a big reason
why so many classroom chicks are sickly, dehydrated and crippled at birth.
Chick organs often stick to the sides of the shell as a result of not being
turned properly in the mechanical incubator. By contrast, a mother hen turns
each of her eggs, individually, as often as 30 times a day, using her body,
her feet and her beak to move each egg precisely to maintain the proper
temperature, moisture, ventilation, humidity and positioning of each embryo
she is sitting on. The embryo signals its needs to her, and the hen responds
with the necessary adjustment of her eggs.
Salmonella infection of students and teachers is also a factor. More and
more children have egg allergies and complications of seasonal flues and
vaccines. Dr. Pascal James Imperato, dean of the Graduate Program in Public
Health at the State University of New York, says due to “insufficient
regulation of the poultry industry,” Salmonella is “widespread among
chickens and other poultry.” The risk of infection, he says, is “especially
high for young children who come into contact with baby chicks and
ducklings” (“Salmonella Common in U.S. Poultry,” The Washington Post, Jan.
23, 2009).
For all of these reasons, teachers are strongly encouraged to replace
hatching projects with programs and activities that teach life cycles and
inspire students to appreciate, respect, and learn about the amazing life of
birds on our planet and in their own neighborhoods.
Thank you for everything you do for animals!
Return to Action Alerts
Find
area codes
Find zip
codes
Find your United States Congressional Representative
Find your United States Senators
Find your state legislators
Find Embassies Worldwide