Television presenter Piers Morgan has clashed with a vegan who backed a petition, attracting 35,000 signatures, to ban a school rearing pigs for meat.
On Tuesday's (23 January) Good Morning Britain, Piers and co-host Susanna Reid spoke to the headteacher of Priestlands school in Lymington, Hampshire, which received the petition calling it to stop rearing pigs for meat.
The pigs are in the rural secondary school's grounds, and the practice of rearing them on-site seeks to educate the children where food comes from, and how it is made, from farm-to-fork.
Headteacher Chris Willsher told Piers and Susanna that the school has received death threats from vegans unhappy with the school's move.
Speaking on the breakfast show, he explained: "We're trying to help children understand where their food came from.
"We know children today don't understand where food comes from educating children to understand that.
"We've had abuse that I don't condone. I don't think it's appropriate to ring the school and it's scary."
'Selling them a lie'
However, vegan Vincent Cook, who backs the petition, told the presenters that many people have an issue with how the school teaches about the meat industry.
He said: "What the school is doing is actually selling them a lie. 97 per cent of pork isn’t from happy pigs being cared for by children.
"That sends an unspoken endorsement to the meat industry that it’s okay. I would love to show the whole truth - the kids that raise the pigs don’t know anything about the slaughter process."
Piers Morgan argued back: "He [the head teacher] is explaining to children surely, that eating sausages and bacon comes from pigs, and that is the food chain most human beings operate on"
"There's such an irony of death threats against the head teacher and the staff: 'We're going to kill you because you're killing animals.'"
"No one's forcing the will of the meat eaters onto you and your family, but you want to instill your views on everybody else."
The school has since stopped rearing pigs on its grounds, but will launch a future consultation with parents about re-introducing them.
