Cedar the goat and our attitude towards animals.

[Catherine]

I have never heard of 4H in Canada. I have never heard of a child raising a farm animal as part of a program. I was given seeds to plant a garden when I was that age. I was not told what I had to do with the plants afterwards, they were mine.
I even won $1.75 for my garden. I still feel good about it after all these years.

Quote:The meat industry has billions of dollars invested in its processes and it cannot afford for children to learn to become empathetic towards animals. That could cause a collapse in the number of meat eaters in the future. So it has to push on with its program, including the US Govt sponsored 4H baby-animal-to-plate scheme. 

This program of getting kids to raise baby animals and then getting them to give the animal up for slaughter, is in many ways a form of child abuse.
Many children might act like they are okay with what happens, because they want the approval of the adults involved. I doubt they are actually okay. 
They are not able to express the pain they are feeling when their "pet" is taken away and killed. Any child who doesn't feel a sense of loss is seriously damaged. They can no longer feel empathy for another living creature.

I think the 4H program is geared to kill any empathy the children naturally have.  
Pets teach children to have empathy. Pets help children mature into caring adults.
What do the children turn into if they turn their pet over to be slaughtered for food.

That one eight year old girl threatened the whole system.
I hope she grows up to be someone who can help change the system.