THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Thursday, August 15, 1996             TAG: 9608150003
SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A18  EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: Letter 
                                            LENGTH:   30 lines

CHICKENS ARE NOT DUMB

Editorial writer Patrick Lackey deserves praise and thanks for his commentary against cruelty to animals (``In animal-rights debate, we can all agree on no cruelty,'' Perspectives, July 25). However, his assumption that chickens are ``the dumbest animal on the menu'' is incorrect.

I say this in part because I encounter chickens directly every day at our chicken sanctuary in Seneca, Md. They are smart birds. Chickens have been studied extensively in science for more than 30 years. These studies are summarized in a book by Lesley Rogers, a chicken physiologist, titled The Development of Brain and Behaviour in the Chicken (1995).

Rogers states that ``With increased knowledge of the behaviour and cognitive abilities of the chicken has come the realization that the chicken is not an inferior species to be treated merely as a food source.'' Studies have demonstrated the cognitive complexities of ``the hitherto underestimated chicken brain.''

For years, birds, including the chicken, have been known to experience pain and suffering the same as mammals. (Neurophysiological evidence supports the behavioral evidence.) In addition, science now says that chickens are not dumb. If pigs deserve respect because they have been shown to be intelligent animals, the same goes for chickens.

KAREN DAVIS, president

United Poultry Concerns Inc.

Germantown, Md., Aug. 7, 1996 by CNB