Maybe they should eat tree huggers instead.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33960-2000Jul13.html
National Guard Cancels Chicken Kill After PETA Objects
By Steve Vogel
Washington Post Staff Writer
The Maryland National Guard has chickened out.
After receiving an animal cruelty complaint from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the Guard canceled plans to have soldiers kill chickens as part of survival training, held recently in Western Maryland.
"We're definitely pleased those chickens were spared a cruel death," said Cem Akin, a national PETA official at its headquarters in Norfolk. PETA sent a letter to the Maryland Guard on Friday praising its "compassionate decision to cancel the live animal portion of survival training."
About 75 Maryland National Guard soldiers participated in the survival training the weekend of June 24 and 25 at Camp Baker in Allegany County, learning how to build shelters, catch animals for food and evade detection.
"This isn't something we do because we want to go out and kill chickens," said Capt. Drew Sullins, a spokesman for the Maryland Guard. "It teaches them the most humane way to kill them and how to safely prepare it for consumption."
Brig. Gen. Steven Blum, commander of the Maryland Army National Guard, said: "It would not be unusual for us to get some chickens and rabbits and show soldiers how to catch them and kill them and prepare them. How do you give a city kid the confidence that they can do it if you don't show them how?"
But the Guard canceled the chicken portion of the exercise after PETA sent an "emergency fax" to Blum on June 23 protesting the plan. "These pointless exercises will result in nothing more than public outrage over the extreme suffering caused to dozens of docile animals," the letter said.
PETA learned of the planned exercise from a "whistleblower," Akin said.
"It was a one-time judgment call that we would rather not have the distraction of having PETA show up at our training," Sullins said. "It's unfortunate, given the fact that we're deploying a large number of Marylanders to Bosnia."
More than 125 Maryland Guard soldiers from the 629th Intelligence Battalion in Laurel are in Bosnia as part of the NATO peacekeeping mission. The Maryland and Virginia National Guards are preparing to deploy hundreds more soldiers next year when the 29th Infantry Division, a Guard unit based at Fort Belvoir in Fairfax County, takes command of the Bosnia operation.
The soldiers who participated in the survival training included members of the 29th Aviation Brigade, elements of which will be deploying to Bosnia with helicopters. Sullins said the survival training is particularly important for aircraft crew members. "If an aircraft were to go down and they were somehow stranded and didn't have access to food, who knows what would happen?" Sullins said.
But Akin said soldiers do not practice killing people and do not need to practice killing chickens, either.
"It just doesn't make sense for soldiers to practice killing chickens," Akin said. "A starving soldier, in the unlikely event he comes across a chicken on the battlefield, wouldn't have any trouble killing that chicken."
PETA's letter called on the Maryland Guard to forever cease killing chickens and other animals. "We are glad that you agree that these exercises benefit no one--least of all the animals who experience agonizing deaths--and hope you will issue a written policy prohibiting the use of live animals in future survival training exercises," the letter said.
But the Guard says a ban is unlikely.
"Absolutely not," Sullins said. "We can't continue to deprive troops of the training they need."
Guard officials expressed exasperation at the PETA position, noting that thousands of chickens are slaughtered every day at the Purdue Farms operations on the Eastern Shore. "It's okay for soldiers to kill people, but they can't kill chickens?" said a Guard officer. "What do they think happens to the rest of the chickens in the world?"
© 2000 The Washington Post Company
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33960-2000Jul13.html
National Guard Cancels Chicken Kill After PETA Objects
By Steve Vogel
Washington Post Staff Writer
The Maryland National Guard has chickened out.
After receiving an animal cruelty complaint from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the Guard canceled plans to have soldiers kill chickens as part of survival training, held recently in Western Maryland.
"We're definitely pleased those chickens were spared a cruel death," said Cem Akin, a national PETA official at its headquarters in Norfolk. PETA sent a letter to the Maryland Guard on Friday praising its "compassionate decision to cancel the live animal portion of survival training."
About 75 Maryland National Guard soldiers participated in the survival training the weekend of June 24 and 25 at Camp Baker in Allegany County, learning how to build shelters, catch animals for food and evade detection.
"This isn't something we do because we want to go out and kill chickens," said Capt. Drew Sullins, a spokesman for the Maryland Guard. "It teaches them the most humane way to kill them and how to safely prepare it for consumption."
Brig. Gen. Steven Blum, commander of the Maryland Army National Guard, said: "It would not be unusual for us to get some chickens and rabbits and show soldiers how to catch them and kill them and prepare them. How do you give a city kid the confidence that they can do it if you don't show them how?"
But the Guard canceled the chicken portion of the exercise after PETA sent an "emergency fax" to Blum on June 23 protesting the plan. "These pointless exercises will result in nothing more than public outrage over the extreme suffering caused to dozens of docile animals," the letter said.
PETA learned of the planned exercise from a "whistleblower," Akin said.
"It was a one-time judgment call that we would rather not have the distraction of having PETA show up at our training," Sullins said. "It's unfortunate, given the fact that we're deploying a large number of Marylanders to Bosnia."
More than 125 Maryland Guard soldiers from the 629th Intelligence Battalion in Laurel are in Bosnia as part of the NATO peacekeeping mission. The Maryland and Virginia National Guards are preparing to deploy hundreds more soldiers next year when the 29th Infantry Division, a Guard unit based at Fort Belvoir in Fairfax County, takes command of the Bosnia operation.
The soldiers who participated in the survival training included members of the 29th Aviation Brigade, elements of which will be deploying to Bosnia with helicopters. Sullins said the survival training is particularly important for aircraft crew members. "If an aircraft were to go down and they were somehow stranded and didn't have access to food, who knows what would happen?" Sullins said.
But Akin said soldiers do not practice killing people and do not need to practice killing chickens, either.
"It just doesn't make sense for soldiers to practice killing chickens," Akin said. "A starving soldier, in the unlikely event he comes across a chicken on the battlefield, wouldn't have any trouble killing that chicken."
PETA's letter called on the Maryland Guard to forever cease killing chickens and other animals. "We are glad that you agree that these exercises benefit no one--least of all the animals who experience agonizing deaths--and hope you will issue a written policy prohibiting the use of live animals in future survival training exercises," the letter said.
But the Guard says a ban is unlikely.
"Absolutely not," Sullins said. "We can't continue to deprive troops of the training they need."
Guard officials expressed exasperation at the PETA position, noting that thousands of chickens are slaughtered every day at the Purdue Farms operations on the Eastern Shore. "It's okay for soldiers to kill people, but they can't kill chickens?" said a Guard officer. "What do they think happens to the rest of the chickens in the world?"
© 2000 The Washington Post Company
