For 20 years, contestants participating in Port Dalhousie's 'Chicken Chucking Championships' have taken to the ice and chucked real frozen chickens in the pub's homemade curling-like game.
But after an animal rights group decided to vocally protest the practice, pub owner David Prentice is now saying they are looking over how things are being done, saying a meeting with the activists resulted in agreeing to replace the chickens with something else.
"We will seriously look at how we do things. We have a meeting planned with all the involved volunteers at the end of the month", Prentice told Thorold News.
The tradition started in 2000 and has been a part of the many fundraising initiatives undertaken by the pub.
But over the years, Prentice says, some angry emails have been sent to the pub over the use of actual frozen chickens.
"Some people don't understand it. We give the chickens to feed my brothers sled dogs, rescue Malamutes from up north, or donate them to the tiger sanctuary in Niagara Falls. These are wild animals, they eat meat and not vegetables. That is the way nature works", he said.
However, aside from protests over animal rights concerns, Prentice says the use of the chickens is impractical, and when the ice is not stable enough, rubber chickens have been used on dry land.
That was the case with this year's edition of the championships, held in Lakeside Park.
Prentice says, all in all, he is always open to rethinking things and says his family considers animal rights an important issue affecting many.
"Why they targeted our silly little competition, I don't know... But 100 years from now, when people participate in the championships, someone might say 'did you know they used to have real chickens for the game?'. It's just fun, that is the way i look at it".
