Teacher kills rabbit

[Arakan]

Hey good folk,

just read a little story in the newspaper that in Austria a biology teacher brought a rabbit (his own) into a school class and killed it before the eyes of his pupils.

He did so according to the highest EU standards and the reason was to teach the pupils the biology of rabbits and that meat doesnt grow in super markets or McDonalds.

Apparently the pupils tried to stop him, many cried and now it seems the teacher has to face some consequences.

My opinion on it: bigotry. Pupils, as long as they are not vegetarian themselves, should and must learn the reality of what meat actually means. It's crazy how we in the rich first world lose the grip on reality in so many things.

The teacher didnt make any bloody spectacle out of it and IMO stuff like that may actually help to raise awareness when it comes to our crazy amount of meat consumption.

[Chaircat Meow]

Yeah, those kids were being daft. Rabbits get shot and killed all the time.

[mormont]

A link actually recounting the events would allow people to form an opinion about it, rather than just agreeing or disagreeing with your opinion.

[eyenon15]

That silly rabbit was trying to get his Trix

[Pebble thats Stubby]

how old where the Children? cos that can make a big difference. Also a lot of children have Rabbits for Pets so not sure a Rabbit is a good animal to use for this demonstration.

I do think all people should learn where their food comes from, including how its slaughtered, but maybe its best to do this with food animals and not those often treated as Pets. Perhaps a chicken would have been better.

[kairparavel]

Um, no.

Unless the teacher then cleaned, butchered and prepared the rabbit for consumption he didn't teach the class anything beyond how to kill an animal. A more sensible solution would be to arrange a field trip to a farm, slaughterhouse, or processing plant to show where 'food' for the market comes from.

Also, is it really the teacher's responsibility to teach these children about death in such a callous and off-hand way? I'm a meat-eater but would be outraged if someone killed an animal in front of my child to make a point, that quite frankly, isn't theirs to make.

The article I found (next time, provide a link) suggests he stated he would be eating it for dinner, but it's not clear that was the case. It also contradicts the statement that he killed the rabbits in front of the children. And regardless of audience, there is certainly no indication he did anything to any standards. Cripes. If you're going to provide a provocative news item, at least provide the provocative news item article.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/austria/11716209/Teacher-in-Austria-accused-of-killing-two-rabbits-in-front-of-horrified-students.html

[Westerosi Coast Gangster]

I think it should have been discussed before it took place. I, as a parent, would want to know about this before hand.

[Arakan]

A link actually recounting the events would allow people to form an opinion about it, rather than just agreeing or disagreeing with your opinion.

I read it in a german newspaper, in German. Printed version.

[Arakan]

how old where the Children? cos that can make a big difference. Also a lot of children have Rabbits for Pets so not sure a Rabbit is a good animal to use for this demonstration.

I do think all people should learn where their food comes from, including how its slaughtered, but maybe its best to do this with food animals and not those often treated as Pets. Perhaps a chicken would have been better.

But a rabbit is a food animal, at least where I come from.

[Pebble thats Stubby]

But a rabbit is a food animal, at least where I come from.

But are Rabbits uncommon pets in Austria? In a lot of places they are both pets and food, other here they are not the main meat eaten and are more often pets.

although maybe more common in Pet food. I remember my 13 year old cousin freaking out once we we opened a tin of Rabbit cat food. She was convinced that someone was going to catch her pet and turn it into cat food. -although I think my cousins reaction at 13 was rather extreme, I can understand it.

[Arakan]

But are Rabbits uncommon pets in Austria? In a lot of places they are both pets and food, other here they are not the main meat eaten and are more often pets.

although maybe more common in Pet food. I remember my 13 year old cousin freaking out once we we opened a tin of Rabbit cat food. She was convinced that someone was going to catch her pet and turn it into cat food. -although I think my cousins reaction at 13 was rather extreme, I can understand it.

I think you have a point. Maybe a rabbit was wrong because of its status also as pet.

But honestly, the "food animal racism" is bad as well. South Park had the right of it.

Just because a rabbit is cute and a chicken not so much, we value the life of the chicken less.

[Pebble thats Stubby]

We are however pre-programmed to care more for cute animals and babies. So food animal racism is kinda understandable.

personally I have no problem eating most animals, I've even caught and cooked some myself. I wouldn't touch dauphins and wales or primates since they seem to display a higher level of intelligence.

I'm also unlikely to eat insects or snails due to my eww animal racism, - but if I was really hungry or i tried some once without knowing what it was first then discovering I liked it, then I could eat it again.

Thing is the Teacher was not trying to address our Cute animal bias but to raise awareness that meat comes from living animals. i'm not sure but I bet chicken is one of the most eaten animals in Austria not only that the Teacher could have then demonstrated how Chicken Nuggets https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKwL5G5HbGAare made and still had the chicken part for his dinner.

[Jace, Extat]

Dude just rolled into class one day and offed a rabbit? That's some Hannibal Lector shit right there.

[dog-days]

Link to an article in Der Spiegel (German).

The Spiegel gets its story from Austrian sources and uses sollen a lot to create some distance. The article mentions at the end that something similar happened a few years ago in Schleswig Holstein, when a teacher decided to add some authenticity to a project on the Stone Age by having a farmer finish off another unfortunate rabbit.

I've never seen an animal killed, to my relief, except on TV, but am nevertheless vegetarian. Spent quite a lot of my early teenage years picking up bits of dead animals and putting them in the bin, until our cat mercifully decided she'd much rather snooze on the couch and eat food from tins than go out hunting.

I don't think watching a rabbit killed in class would have had a very positive effect on me. It's difficult enough growing up as it is without being put into situations that seem calculated to produce hatred towards one's teacher. I struggle to imagine any of my former classmates benefiting from it either. The bloodthirsty ones from the hunting/fishing/shooting set would no doubt have relished it; the others would have compartmentalized it.

[PyroclasticFlow]

We are however pre-programmed to care more for cute animals and babies. So food animal racism is kinda understandable.

personally I have no problem eating most animals, I've even caught and cooked some myself. I wouldn't touch dauphins and wales or primates since they seem to display a higher level of intelligence.

I'm also unlikely to eat insects or snails due to my eww animal racism, - but if I was really hungry or i tried some once without knowing what it was first then discovering I liked it, then I could eat it again.

Thing is the Teacher was not trying to address our Cute animal bias but to raise awareness that meat comes from living animals. i'm not sure but I bet chicken is one of the most eaten animals in Austria not only that the Teacher could have then demonstrated how Chicken Nuggets https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKwL5G5HbGAare made and still had the chicken part for his dinner.

Got any writing from a Psychological journal that backs that up?

[Arakan]

Got any writing from a Psychological journal that backs that up?

Common sense that this statement is true?

But I guess there are plenty of scientific studies out there who support this statement.

[Pebble thats Stubby]

Got any writing from a Psychological journal that backs that up?

No.

but I have seen it mentioned many time in TV documentary's and stuff. I'm sure if you google you will find some.

And if you don't want to take my word for it, then just consider it my opinion.

[PyroclasticFlow]

Babies i definitely agree with, nothing more precious than a newborn because it is the miracle of life. So common sense would have us showing more care to an injured baby deer(cute?) than an injured sphynx cat(ugly?)

I guess it's all semantics though, and differs between individuals and what they define as cute. Also could be the perception of homo sapiens that certain mammal/creature is safe and not a threat to inflict bodily harm, therefore cute. Because cute sounds safe right?? THAT I think is pre-programmed in us

[PyroclasticFlow]

Keeping it on the OP though, that shouldn't have been done. Bring in a dead rabbit and cut it open as an experiment, not a live one killed with a bolt gun.

What is this guy Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men?

[Pebble thats Stubby]

From what I remember most people consider cute to be big eyes little button noses and round faces.

things most human babies all have.

now the most recent study I saw done on TV people where given bubble wrap and shown pictures sometimes human children and babies, sometimes animals. they where not told why they had bubble wrap but they said the popping bubble wrap is our way of realising the need in us to reach out and touch the beings in the pictures. (That might be complete B/S I don't know)

however most of the pops happened when baby and baby faced children where shown, and equally with animals that had baby like facial features.

I've seen it reported many times that nature has programmed us to want to care for infants of our species, and as a result other animals that remind us unconsciously of human babies.

Now I can't be bothered to look it up and read about it in detail, but it makes sense to me and thats about as far as my interest in the physiology of cuteness goes.