I hope this example provides a flavor of what chickens feel and think. What the students in the Phoenix club have done is inexcusable. Not only do they have no right to treat chickens with such horrible care, they have no right to treat any animal in such unthoughtful and uncaring ways. There are complicated issues associated with the use of animals for research, a topic that I am intimately familiar with. But a case such as this is unambiguous. It should never have started and should stop immediately. One hopes that these students will feel remorse concerning their pathetic treatment of a creature that shares this planet with us.
Marc D. Hauser is Professor of Psychology in the Mind, Brain and Behavior Program.
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