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The members of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals were outside Lincoln Middle School giving away "Chicken Chumps" trading cards that warned against what they claimed were health hazards associated with chicken meat.
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Chris Link (center), vegan campaign manager with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals or PETA, hands out Chicken Chumps trading cards to students Tuesday as PETA intern Jamie Anderson, dressed as a chicken, accompanies him as school lets out at Lincoln Middle School in La Crosse. The PETA representatives have been visiting schools to demonstate the cruelty and ill-health effects associated with eating chicken.
PETER THOMSON photo |
But about a dozen students responded to the PETA visit by holding up signs that expressed enjoyment in eating chicken. Other students briefly chanted "KFC" nearby.
"It's tasty," said eighth-grader Colin Clayburn, 14, whose sign read "I Love to Eat Chicken."
"We can eat whatever we want, and PETA can think whatever they want," he said.
Aza Graw, 12, said she was glad to see PETA, even though she occasionally eats chicken. "I like the cards," she said.
The cards had characters such as "Cruel Kyle," "Tubby Tammy" and "Sickly Sally," each meant to illustrate the potential ill effects of eating the domestic fowl. A fourth card, "Feathered Friends," portrayed chickens as family birds that don't want to be eaten.
A letter with more about the meat industry was handed out as well for the students to take home to parents.
Lincoln Principal Larry Myhra, who watched from an entrance during the PETA visit, said he had social studies teachers review the First Amendment so students understood why the activists were allowed near the school.
Myhra said he was unsure why Lincoln was targeted, since he doesn't consider it to be in a heavy traffic area.
Chris Link, PETA campaign coordinator, said he hoped the information might convince students to become vegetarians. He contends all meat is packed with fat and cholesterol, which can lead to illnesses such as heart disease and obesity.
Chickens also are treated inhumanely before they are killed, packed into warehouses with no room to move and given antibiotics to plump them up faster, Link said.
Those claims didn't fly with a representative of the U.S. Poultry and Egg Association. Elizabeth Krushinskie, vice president of food safety and production programs, said chicken is all natural and contains no hormones. She said chickens are low in antibiotic residues, adding that feed has to meet standards set by the Food and Drug Administration.
Skinless chicken also is a staple of low-fat, low-carbohydrate diets, she said — it is breading or batters that add fat.
Kate Schott can be reached at (608) 791-8226 or Kate.Schott@lacrossetribune.com.
