A primary school headteacher has defended plans to slaughter pigs raised on its farm to teach pupils about the food chain, after a petition against the project said it would teach children to exploit and kill animals. Children as young as four at Farsley Farfield primary in Leeds have been helping to feed the Gloucester Old Spot pigs at the mini-farm, which also has vegetable patches and hens. “The pigs will not be pets and will only be with us for nine months,” Peter Harris, the headteacher, said when the scheme was announced. “[Pigs] are friendly animals that can live for about 12 years or so,” Ix Willow said in her petition. “There are educational boards in production that explain that these pigs are better treated than the vast majority of pigs,” he wrote on the school’s website.

Source: The Guardian April 29, 2019 16:20 UTC