USA: Teacher and Students Drown Raccoon

An investigation is underway after a teacher at a Florida high school is accused of drowning wildlife in a trash can while students watched and assisted.

A Florida mother says her son joined classmates from the high school this week and drowned two raccoons and an opossum.

Raccoons Drowned in Trash Cans

«It made me sick. It made me sick to my stomach. It’s awful,» says the mother, who wished to remain anonymous.

The woman said a raccoon had eaten a chicken that students at the woodland school in Ocala, Florida, were raising. The teacher then trapped the raccoons in a cage. «He took the cages, filled large trash cans with water, and let the children drown the raccoons in the cages in the water, in the trash cans.»

Photos and video footage taken by a student show a raccoon in a metal trap being lifted into a trash can by the teacher and students while the teacher fills it with tap water. The video further shows the tip of a raccoon’s snout barely above the water’s surface.

«When the raccoons tried to get air, they had metal rods and they held them down with metal rods, and when the raccoon tried to lift its head, they held water hoses in its face to drown it,» says the mother.

Teacher Suspended, Investigation Ongoing

A 14-second video captured the cruel act, which is said to have taken place on Monday during an agriculture class. The student who confided in his mother reportedly came home in tears.

It is questionable whether the teacher will face any punishment at all: According to the US newspaper the “Washington Post,” it is unclear whether the incident constitutes criminal acts. According to the website of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, it is permitted in that state to catch animals classified as a nuisance.

The teacher has since been placed on leave, while the school in Ocala is also investigating the allegations. More on animal rights and wildlife.