alyeska338
09-30-2004, 05:08 PM
Mom Collects Big Game Organs for Science
Thu Sep 30, 9:02 AM ET Science - AP
By RACHEL D'ORO, Associated Press Writer
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Stephanie Bradford isn't content with her daughter dissecting frogs in science class. She wants the students to cut into the hearts and eyes of moose, caribou, bear and other large game.
Bradford, who like many residents of Alaska's Interior lives in a hunting household, is asking local hunters to donate organs to her 12-year-old daughter's school.
"It doesn't matter what the animal is," Bradford said. "We'll take what people donate."
So far, a half-dozen people have pledged parts from moose, caribou and a cow for Megan's class at Tanana Middle School in Fairbanks, Bradford said. Donations include two sets of moose eyes the size of pingpong balls and three moose hearts — organs rarely if ever seen in other schools, according to the National Science Teachers Association in Arlington, Va.
"Big game would be very uncommon," said Anne Tweed, president of the association, which has 55,000 individual and institutional members in the United States and abroad.
"This is certainly a case that is more particular to that part of the country. It's interesting to me when people are able to use local resources, especially rural areas that don't have access to the same resources found in more urban areas."
Bradford, a former high school English teacher, sent an e-mail to her daughter's seventh-grade science teacher, Donna Knutson, who was thrilled with the quest.
"Only a science teacher would get excited about that," Knutson said. "It was totally the mom's idea. Plus she knows our budget's been cut pretty bad."
A decade ago, each of the school's six science teachers had a $2,000 yearly budget for special expenses such as dissection supplies, Knutson said. Now four science teachers split a total of $2,400. Of that, $600 goes toward buying 160 frogs to be cut up by pairs of seventh-graders.
It's a necessary expense, Knutson said. The exercise is too important — and popular among some students — to eliminate.
Ilaura Reeves, for one, can't wait to cut into frogs or big game. In second grade, she enjoyed a salmon dissection project.
"We took all the eggs from the girl salmon and fertilizing stuff from the boy salmon," the 12-year-old said. "I like to dissect. I'm ready to discover new things and how other animals work and how their lives work."
The enthusiasm is not unanimous.
"I don't like to mess with dead things," said 12-year-old Julia Parrish. "I plan to have Ilaura as my partner so she can do it all."
Two years ago, the school nurse donated the heart of a moose her son had shot. Students were mesmerized by the heart, which was the size of a 5-pound bag of sugar.
"Organ donations are basically gravy," Knutson said. "They add something else kids can work on and hold in their hands."
Some teachers in Western states use beef and sheep organs, readily available from packing houses or other sources. When budgets are tight, others make do with chicken wings or computer-simulated frogs, Tweed said.
Longtime hunter Craig Anderson is donating the eyes of a moose he shot Sept. 10 to Megan's school. Hunters commonly leave the head in the field, but Anderson carried this one out because he planned to have it mounted.
He found out a mount would be too expensive, and soon after he learned of Bradford's call for organs. Anderson said he would have given her the animal's heart, too, but it was destroyed by the rifle shot through the ribs.
"Nobody had ever had a request like that, but both my daughters attended the school. It's a good school," Anderson said. "So I dug out the eyes and took a whole bunch out, including the optic nerves and some fat. Hey, let's get these kids going on science."
Bradford's husband, Kevin Gildow, had promised the eyes and hearts of any caribou shot during a recent hunting trip with a friend. But the parts from two caribou they killed were lost.
"They actually harvested the two hearts and four eyeballs and set them aside," Bradford said. "But a fox raided their camp and ate everything it could easily reach, including the organs."
With winter creeping up, Bradford had to get creative with her hunt.
A big game processor is on the lookout for customers who kept the coveted organs. Alaska State Troopers are notifying charities that salvage meat from roadkill.
Trooper Lt. Lee Farmer has asked wildlife enforcement troopers to spread the word to hunters. It's the best he can do.
"I'm not a hunter," Farmer said. "I just do a lot of stalking of chicken breasts at Safeway."
Thu Sep 30, 9:02 AM ET Science - AP
By RACHEL D'ORO, Associated Press Writer
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Stephanie Bradford isn't content with her daughter dissecting frogs in science class. She wants the students to cut into the hearts and eyes of moose, caribou, bear and other large game.
Bradford, who like many residents of Alaska's Interior lives in a hunting household, is asking local hunters to donate organs to her 12-year-old daughter's school.
"It doesn't matter what the animal is," Bradford said. "We'll take what people donate."
So far, a half-dozen people have pledged parts from moose, caribou and a cow for Megan's class at Tanana Middle School in Fairbanks, Bradford said. Donations include two sets of moose eyes the size of pingpong balls and three moose hearts — organs rarely if ever seen in other schools, according to the National Science Teachers Association in Arlington, Va.
"Big game would be very uncommon," said Anne Tweed, president of the association, which has 55,000 individual and institutional members in the United States and abroad.
"This is certainly a case that is more particular to that part of the country. It's interesting to me when people are able to use local resources, especially rural areas that don't have access to the same resources found in more urban areas."
Bradford, a former high school English teacher, sent an e-mail to her daughter's seventh-grade science teacher, Donna Knutson, who was thrilled with the quest.
"Only a science teacher would get excited about that," Knutson said. "It was totally the mom's idea. Plus she knows our budget's been cut pretty bad."
A decade ago, each of the school's six science teachers had a $2,000 yearly budget for special expenses such as dissection supplies, Knutson said. Now four science teachers split a total of $2,400. Of that, $600 goes toward buying 160 frogs to be cut up by pairs of seventh-graders.
It's a necessary expense, Knutson said. The exercise is too important — and popular among some students — to eliminate.
Ilaura Reeves, for one, can't wait to cut into frogs or big game. In second grade, she enjoyed a salmon dissection project.
"We took all the eggs from the girl salmon and fertilizing stuff from the boy salmon," the 12-year-old said. "I like to dissect. I'm ready to discover new things and how other animals work and how their lives work."
The enthusiasm is not unanimous.
"I don't like to mess with dead things," said 12-year-old Julia Parrish. "I plan to have Ilaura as my partner so she can do it all."
Two years ago, the school nurse donated the heart of a moose her son had shot. Students were mesmerized by the heart, which was the size of a 5-pound bag of sugar.
"Organ donations are basically gravy," Knutson said. "They add something else kids can work on and hold in their hands."
Some teachers in Western states use beef and sheep organs, readily available from packing houses or other sources. When budgets are tight, others make do with chicken wings or computer-simulated frogs, Tweed said.
Longtime hunter Craig Anderson is donating the eyes of a moose he shot Sept. 10 to Megan's school. Hunters commonly leave the head in the field, but Anderson carried this one out because he planned to have it mounted.
He found out a mount would be too expensive, and soon after he learned of Bradford's call for organs. Anderson said he would have given her the animal's heart, too, but it was destroyed by the rifle shot through the ribs.
"Nobody had ever had a request like that, but both my daughters attended the school. It's a good school," Anderson said. "So I dug out the eyes and took a whole bunch out, including the optic nerves and some fat. Hey, let's get these kids going on science."
Bradford's husband, Kevin Gildow, had promised the eyes and hearts of any caribou shot during a recent hunting trip with a friend. But the parts from two caribou they killed were lost.
"They actually harvested the two hearts and four eyeballs and set them aside," Bradford said. "But a fox raided their camp and ate everything it could easily reach, including the organs."
With winter creeping up, Bradford had to get creative with her hunt.
A big game processor is on the lookout for customers who kept the coveted organs. Alaska State Troopers are notifying charities that salvage meat from roadkill.
Trooper Lt. Lee Farmer has asked wildlife enforcement troopers to spread the word to hunters. It's the best he can do.
"I'm not a hunter," Farmer said. "I just do a lot of stalking of chicken breasts at Safeway."