Ashtabula Author and Bree the Rescued Rooster Win First-Ever ‘Chicken Crusaders’ Award

For Immediate Release:
December 14, 2023

Contact:
Sara Groves 202-483-782

For doing an impeckable job rousing empathy for roosters and teaching children that chickens are thinking, feeling beings just like them, TeachKind—PETA’s humane education division—is recognizing Ashtabula-based author and educator Camille Licate, along with her rescued rooster companion, Bree, with its inaugural Chicken Crusaders Award.

An advocate for nurturing compassion in young people, Licate wrote a book, Bree and Me: A True Story of a Rescue Rooster’s Journey, and hosts Kids for Positive Change, a television show encouraging young viewers to take positive actions for humans, other animals, and the planet. (Bree’s scenes are filmed in Licate’s home studio, where he feels safe and comfortable.)

Licate also teamed up with PETA Kids, the group’s division for kids 12 and younger, to star in a charming video with Bree, in which she shares how she took in her feathered friend after he was found as a chick on a busy street in New York City—and how the bird went on to become a “chicken with a mission” to “wake up the world to kindness” through his endearing, inquisitive, and loyal personality, his love of sun and dust baths, and his proclivity to protect his “flock,” i.e., Licate, her parents, and their adopted canine companions.

“Camille and Bree are showing youngsters and their parents that chickens—and all animals—are thinking, feeling beings who deserve our respect and consideration,” says PETA Senior Director of Youth Programs Marta Holmberg. “TeachKind is thrilled to recognize these compassionate companions for working around the cluck to make the world a kinder place.”

Licate and Bree will receive a framed certificate from TeachKind.

PETA Kids and TeachKind—whose mottos read, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—oppose speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information about TeachKind’s free resources, presentations, and lessons for teachers, please visit TeachKind.org or follow the group on Facebook or Instagram. For more information about PETA Kids, please visit PETAKids.com or follow the group on Facebook or Instagram.