A Texas high school teacher is under fire for telling her students that she fed one of their classroom snakes an “ailing” kitten before school in early September.
The woman who oversees an advanced animal science class at Alvord High School, just an hour outside of Dallas, told her class of teenage students that the snake had eaten the sickly kitten alive. She later sent the rest of the litter home with a student.
The student, who was reportedly distraught by the teacher’s grisly tale, got their parents’ permission to keep the remaining trio of week-old kittens. All three wound up passing away at the student’s home, Alvord ISD Superintendent Randy Brown said in a statement obtained by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
The dutiful student tried to keep the newborns alive and even bottle-fed them every few hours for two weeks until their little bodies just couldn’t fight anymore, the teenager’s mother told the outlet.
Brown issued the statement to “correct the record” after reports started circulating that the kitten was sacrificed in front of the entire class of horrified pupils.
A concerned parent notified the district’s police department, the Animal Control Division of the Wise County Sheriff’s Office, and PETA on Sept. 3 after hearing their child recount the harrowing story, prompting a joint investigation with the school district and local law enforcement.
Brown assured that the teacher was “an experienced educator and animal lover” who was ready to take accountability and has since apologized to her students.
The teacher also “voluntarily” removed all other snakes from the classroom, the superintendent said.
“While we cannot provide additional details, we can confirm this was a one-time, isolated incident that has been addressed and fully remediated,” Brown said.
It’s unclear where the teacher obtained the litter of debilitated kittens, or why they were so sickly in the first place.
No criminal charges were filed against the teacher, according to Brown. Any future administrative action was deferred back to the school district.
Many snakes native to Texas aren’t known for consuming household pets.
Lone Star snakes, ranging from the cottonmouth to a laundry list of rattlesnakes, are better known for their venomous, paralytic bites rather than swallowing any prey whole.
Many snakes, especially smaller varieties, tend to focus their energy on chasing more reasonable prey, including insects, amphibians, and other reptiles.
Burmese pythons that are found in Florida are far more likely to consume creatures that would be expected to put up a fight.
The post Texas high school teacher shamelessly tells students she fed ‘ailing’ kitten to class snake appeared first on New York Post.
