School faces backlash after students raise pigs to send to slaughter

A furious parent was left outraged when a school allowed students to rear four pigs and then planned to send the animals to slaughter.

Priestland’s School in Lymington, Hampshire, presented the students with the piglets in order to teach them how to “fatten up pigs for slaughter”.

Vincent Cook, a parent of students in year 7 and year 9 has repeatedly asked the school to send the pigs to a farm or sanctuary instead.

But he told the Metro that the headmaster refused his pleas and told him that vegetarians and vegans were “in the minority”.

Mr Cook said: “The last time I spoke to the headmaster about it, he did say we would have to “agree to disagree”.

He continued: “I said that’s not on, that I’ll have to keep pushing because this goes against what we believe in”.

In the face of a furious backlash, the school said in statement that its intention was to "educate our students about where their food comes from and to do this in a sustainable way as well as preparing students for employment locally."

And it has since confirmed the pigs have been returned to their original owners.

The issue became public when animal rights campaigner Ed Winters launched a petition to save the pigs.

The petition has received more than 37,000 signatures.

Mr Winters wrote: “In 2018 we should be teaching children compassion towards animals.

“The school has made students and parents uncomfortable, by discriminating against their beliefs by condemning these pigs to death”.

Mr Winters told the Metro that the school had initially claimed that they could not afford to send the pigs to slaughter.

But when Mr Winter arranged for the pigs to be taken to Tower Hill Stables Animal Sanctuary- a farm which takes in animals that would otherwise be sent to slaughter- the school said no.

He said: “They have a choice now – they can show mercy, they can do something compassionate.”

In a statement obtained by the Metro, a spokesperson for Priestland's School said: “‘We respect the vegan philosophy but Priestlands School is proud to serve the whole community,’

‘We want to educate our students about where their food comes from and to do this in a sustainable way as well as preparing students for employment locally. Many local jobs are still in farming and this includes rearing animals for meat.

‘When a parent first raised his concerns, the school immediately agreed that it would consult the wider school community about whether we should continue to have pigs in the future.

“Our preferred outcome was for this year’s cohort of pigs to enter the food chain as planned and for us then to sit down and have a rational discussion about whether or not we continue to have pigs in the future.

“He made it clear that this would not be an acceptable outcome and, indeed, that no outcome other than the pigs not going to slaughter would be acceptable to him.

‘Therefore, last week, we decided that the best way forward was to hand back the pigs to their original owner.

“The original owner collected the pigs over the weekend, and this enables us to focus on our core purpose of running the school and will allow a proper consultation and discussion on whether we have pigs in the future."

The Standard has approached the school for comment.