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Farm Sanctuary Submits Open Letter to Canandaigua Academy Offering Humane Alternative to Controversial Chicken Slaughter Project

Ecology class invited to visit Watkins Glen sanctuary to learn the true cost of food production while fulfilling the state’s humane education law

Watkins Glen, NY – September 15, 2008 – Farm Sanctuary, the nation’s leading farm animal protection organization, headquartered in Watkins Glen, today issued an open letter to Canandaigua Academy offering a humane alternative to the chicken rearing and slaughter portion of the school’s ecology class. This curriculum has become the subject of public controversy based on animal welfare concerns and was last week suspended by order from the state Education Department. Farm Sanctuary has offered that in replacement of this controversial curriculum, the school is invited to bring students from this class to the 175-acre sanctuary for rescued farm animals to learn a more realistic and well-rounded view of modern animal agriculture.

In addition to helping students learn the true cost of food, Farm Sanctuary can help the Canandaigua Academy comply with New York State’s long-standing humane education law, which requires instruction on “the humane treatment and protection of animals.”  At Farm Sanctuary, high school students taking part in the organization’s Cultivating Compassion program learn about the massive environmental destruction and resource depletion caused by factory farming, as well as the institutionalized animal cruelty and human health risks associated with raising and slaughtering nearly 10 billion animals in the U.S. every year. Students meet several of the more than 800 living, sentient farm animal residents at the Watkins Glen shelter face to face, while learning their individual stories of survival. In fact, one chicken rescued last December from this class project now resides at Farm Sanctuary’s Watkins Glen shelter.

“Farm Sanctuary’s Cultivating Compassion program offers a humane alternative to a controversial project with questionable educational value,” said Jeff Lydon, executive director of Farm Sanctuary, who holds a masters degree in education with an emphasis in humane education. “In light of the public concerns about the chicken slaughter project, we feel it necessary to issue an open invitation to the Canandaigua Academy to send the ecology class to our New York shelter where they can gain a better understanding of the widespread ecological implications of modern animal agriculture.”                                                                                          

For more than 22 years, Farm Sanctuary has worked to change the way society views and treats farm animals through its unique combination of rescue, education and advocacy. Farm Sanctuary has rescued thousands of farm animals from cruelty, operating the largest rescue and refuge network for farm animals in North America with sanctuaries in California and New York.

In addition, Farm Sanctuary has been instrumental in the passage of the first laws in this country that outlaw cruel farming practices, like the confinement of breeding pigs in gestation crates and dairy calves in veal crates. These anti-confinement laws have been passed in Florida, Arizona, Oregon and Colorado. The organization also operates education programs at both sanctuaries, welcoming more than 7000 guests every year, including school groups with tours geared toward every age group.

Farm Sanctuary is the nation's leading farm animal protection organization. Since incorporating in 1986, Farm Sanctuary has worked to expose and stop cruel practices of the "food animal" industry through research and investigations, legal and institutional reforms, public awareness projects, youth education, and direct rescue and refuge efforts. Farm Sanctuary shelters in Watkins Glen, N.Y., and Orland, Calif., provide lifelong care for hundreds of rescued animals, who have become ambassadors for farm animals everywhere by educating visitors about the realities of factory farming. Additional information can be found at http://www.farmsanctuary.org or by calling 607-583-2225.