I have not taken the deer farm tour, or participated in any of the SPCA youth camp curriculum, but I have to wonder whether the concept of veganism is at all discussed within the farming context. I could write the SPCA and ask, but I never get a proper answer when I write the SPCA with a question.

Based on its past history of never offering any vegan alternatives for food at any fundraiser I have ever attended (hamburgers and hot dogs being the standard fare), I would have to guess that eating and wearing animals and animal products is not discussed at SPCA youth camps. I would invite the SPCA to comment if this is not the case.

It is crucial that we offer children the whole picture and give them the tools to make humane choices in life. Simply taking children to a deer farm is not offering children the whole picture. I am by no means suggesting that slaughterhouses or tanneries are any place to take a young child for a field trip - they are not. But children are thoughtful and bright, and capable of understanding what suffering is. Perhaps the SPCA could plan field trips to places that manufacture soy products or faux leather?

To think that children must be entertained by gawking at a bunch of poor deer, instead of having their brains stimulated by thought-provoking new concepts is to greatly underestimate the intelligence of children. What a shame.