Pet Guinea Pig & Rabbit Cooked & Served in Class.

[kissbox]

Words cannot describe how I feel about this::


Pet store animals cooked in school
Student prepares Guinea pig, rabbit
Friday, January 21, 2005
John Horton
Plain Dealer Reporter

Thompson Township - A Guinea pig and rabbit purchased from a Geauga County pet store ended up on plates at Ledgemont High School.

A 16-year-old student skinned and cooked the animals during a living skills class on Wednesday, prompting student and parent complaints to the Thompson Township Police Department and Geauga Humane Society. Officials at both agencies said they are investigating.

The incident may warrant animal cruelty charges, said Geauga Humane Officer Sarah Westman. She said it's illegal to needlessly kill "companion animals" raised for domestic purposes.

"Something irrational and wrong happened," Westman said.

Ledgemont Principal Beto Gage acknowledged that "misjudgments" took place but said the boy's actions are far from criminal.

The student - whose name was not released - described what he did in terms of harvesting meat to fix a dish for classmates, Gage said.

The principal described the boy as an active hunter. The Ledgemont district covers the rural communities of Montville and Thompson townships, where killing - and then eating - wild game is fairly common.

The hunt, however, usually doesn't take place at Pet Supplies Plus.

The boy went to the Chardon store and purchased the Guinea pig and rabbit after coming up empty in the great outdoors.

"My skin's crawling over this," said Linda Schempp, a spokeswoman for the pet store chain. "We sell our animals to be family pets - not food."

The student told Gage that he butchered the animals at home before bringing them to school and placing them in the class refrigerator Wednesday. His living skills teacher, Diana Stevens, sets aside that day for her students to prepare a meal of their choice, Gage said.

The boy had asked Stevens if he could catch and cook a wild rabbit.

She approved, providing he dress - or gut - the carcass before class, the principal said.

A few students became alarmed, however, when the boy took two furry carcasses out of a bag.

Stevens allowed him to skin the animals and go ahead with the food preparation. Those in the fourth-period class who didn't want to watch were allowed to go into an adjoining room, Gage said. Meat carved off the animals was cooked and then sampled.

Westman said she's horrified that the school let the incident take place.

"What are you teaching kids about compassion for animals if you allow something like this to go on inside a classroom? Westman asked. "This is way, way out of bounds."

Guidelines in the living skills class will be changed to prevent a similar event, Gage said.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:

jhorton@plaind.com, 1-800-962-1167


© 2005 The Plain Dealer. Used with permission.


__________________________________________________ ____________

I am so upset by this I can barely type!! There are so many things wrong with this situation, and with the fact that his principal doesnt think that he did anything 'criminal' --yeah, that is just because he doesnt want his butt smeared across the page. *deep breath* ok, right now they are still debating whether or not to press charges.. On one side, its a rabbit and people eat rabbit out there,, (what about the guinea pig? we dont eat guinea pig here, at all!!! - people eat dog in other countries, why not open range on a pack of puppies? ) *deep breath* so the other side is that this is a domesticated rabbit and guinea pig.. This bothers me to no end. This kid and his parents MUST be prosecuted. I am looking at it in the point of view that these were bought at a pet store, to be used as PETS!!

If you want to do something about this and help persuade these officials that it is not right to treat a pet this way and that they should be punished, then PLEASE contact any of the following agencies to voice your opinion. It doesnt matter if you live out of state.. this is an issue that isn't regional.. The more people making a fuss over it, the more they will realize that we arent going to stand for this. It sickens me> It makes me wonder if his parents taught him how to hunt by taking a bunch of pet rabbits and placing them in pen for him to aim and shoot.

To voice your opinion, contact any or all of the following agencies:

GEAUGA HUMANE SOCIETY: (440) 338-4819
email: info@geaugahumane.org

THOMPSON TOWNSHIP POLICE DEPT: (440) 298-1305

GEAUGA COUNTY PROSECUTOR< DAVID JOYCE: try any of these 3 numbers: (440) 285-2222, (440) 564-7131, (440) 834-1856 = X5760 (ext can be used with all 3 of those numbers.)

Thank you.

~Jennifer & The
Ratties de Shika

[Bleety]

What a ******* idiot. Someone should make a chicken mcnugget out of that ****head.

I was mad when I heard that one today!!!!

[Zouave]

Instead of just typing this, complain to your ASPCA; Humane Society; animal shelter groups; PeTA; the media; the superintendent of the school district; the Better Business Bureau (regarding the store that sold them); etc. Yes, the numbers you gave are a very nice start; you do have the right idea! Great job.

Animal cruelty is a crime. I repeat, a CRIME. And the ASPCA has police powers including those of arrest. Even if somehow this is not a crime (which I doubt) a great deal of protest and bad publicity can be directed at the perpetrators of this atrocity.

You can also organize those you know who feel similar to you, and educate those who do not.

This can be turned into a very positive thing if you take action.

I once saw two Jack Russell terriers attack and kill a squirrel in 2002 in NYC's Central Park. The dogs were illegally unleashed and the owner a creep; we almost slugged it out. I later complained to various Police and Parks people, and others, and did accomplish a great deal. That squirrel did not die in vain. Make sure those animals also did not die in vain.

It is up to you.

[Zouave]

http://www.geaugahumane.org

That apparently includes the ASPCA. I will write tomorrow. I am about to go to sleep!

Any other e-mail addresses? I do not use nor have long distance capability by phone.

[Purplebunny]

That is disgusting.. What has happened about the student who did this?

[kissbox]

Zouave ~
I have and plan on continuing to contact these agencies> I put them up here so that everyone else would hear about this and if they wanted to, could contact them as well. Since they are still deciding whether to press issues or not - all the heat they can get over this is good. As for the store that sold them (i found out about it from a lady who frequents that store and has talked to the clerk who sold them) -they had no idea what the animals were being used for -and although there was no great in-depth discussion about them(as maybe there should've been -but its a chain, not a rescue -so sad), the impression that was given, was that they were going to be used as pets. But I am sure that more information will come out about this later.

I will see if I can find any email addresses for the police department and the prosecutor as well. I, myself live a few hours away from where this happened -so I had to get this info through information...It is the police department and the humane society that is working together on this to resolve it, I just threw in the prosecutor for measure.

[Millimi]

That better not be a true story!

[Bleety]

This was a true story. I heard it on the news.

Dumbass kid got 6 months behind bars. So really, action was kind of taken.

[Mygala]

How long ago did this happen? I got the impression from the article that it was recent. But he's already been sentenced?

[Bleety]

I saw it on the news yesterday, so I think it just happened.

Also, I'm sure all the proper organizations already found out long before we did!

[kissbox]

As of last night's news, noone had been charged with this. It did happen last Wednesday and the tv news people here in Cleveland have been covering it since Thursday night. I highly doubt he has been sentenced yet, especially since as of Friday's 11 o'clock news(channel 5), no charges had been made at all. From the tv story , the police and humane officers were still trying to determine what this would fall under and how to proceed.

[Mygala]

This is a tough issue in my mind. Most animal abuse cases seem a no-brainer to me. I have to say, that without knowing all the facts, particularly the intent and personality of the young man I don't want to rush to judgement on this.

I come from a rural, farming community, and I have relatives who rely heavily on their hunting skills and their farm animals for their very existance. Animals, even pets have a purpose ...to help them survive. They don't look at animals the same way I do. But I can't call them cruel because they hunt for food in the winter, or slaughter their own hogs, cattle and goats for survival.

If this young man came from this type of environment, ...and there was no malice, ...and the animals were dispatched quickly and humanely, I have a hard time saying there was a crime committed.

Just from what I've read so far, I do think if anyone should bear blame here, the teacher was the one who showed an EXTREMELY poor lapse in judgement in allowing this to happen. She should have forseen the implications of what was about to transpire and stopped it before it got this far. I think she is responsible for the needless deaths of the animals. I am responsible for what happens in my classroom, and I can't imagine being so colossally stupid as to let something like this happen.

Perhaps the teacher and the student would be better served by being educated to the sensitivities of others (not just humans) rather than just sending someone to jail for some period of time. That is what the whole education experience is about. This seems like a great oppurtunity to teach a whole community about how to experience animals other than on a dinner plate.

I feel bad for the innocent animals, and all of the people (particularly the kids in the class) who were/are shocked and offended over this. Very sad.

[TNSWfan80]

to bad he came up empty in the wild.... the whole thing probly would've gone ok! bad call....

[CorinasCritters]

That is so sickening and wrong!

[marmilla]

He doesn't need jail time. He needs to be punished in constructive ways that will show others that this is BAD. I think he should be made to go to counciling first of all. Then maybe he should be forced to work at a place like an animal shelter so he can make up to the population he has hurt. Maybe then he will learn that there is a large difference between pets and food. How could someone go to the PET STORE?!?!?! and do that? That's terrible. My family hunts and fishes, but they would never think of going to the pet shop instead of hunting. ahhh