Jim Shepherd d.2006

Scouts' Chicken Killing Brings Second Thoughts
DALLAS, April 25,(AP) -- A troop of hatchet-wielding Boy Scouts was recently turned loose on a flock of chickens awaiting slaughter at a processing plant. The object was to show the boys how their meals got to the table; but a scoutmaster has since expressed regret and a regional spokesman for the Boy Scouts of America said this week that killing animals was not part of scouting. Last Satruday, the scouts caught, killed and dressed the chickens for a campout dinner. Of the 80 scouts there, at least 10 declined to take part in the slaughter. "Chicken to them is a chicken nugget," said James Shepherd, scoutmaster for Troop 890. "So the feeling was that, educationally, if they could see this is where their chicken comes from, it would be good for them." But such activity is not part of being a scout, said Rob Hoffman, the spokesman for Circle 10 Council of the Boy Scouts of America, which oversees scouting in 13 counties in North Texas and Oklahoma. Two parents complained about the activity, which was overseen by 40 adults and followed a one-hour demonstration of how to kill, pluck, dress and prepare chicken.

-- New York Times, Sunday April 26, 1998