Idaho teacher apologizes for killing, skinning rabbit in class

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Idaho teacher apologizes for killing, skinning rabbit in class

BY LAURA ZUCKERMAN
Fri Nov 14, 2014 5:16pm EST

(Reuters) - An Idaho high school teacher under fire for killing and skinning a rabbit in front of his students to demonstrate how animals are processed for food has apologized to children disturbed by the incident, a school official said on Friday.

The part-time teacher is a farmer who raises rabbits and other livestock for food and was asked to provide a lesson on animal slaughter and processing by students in a 10th-grade biology class he taught at a high school in the Nampa School District near Boise, said district spokeswoman Allison Westfall.

School administrators were not consulted about the demonstration, which happened last week but came to light in recent days after a parent called the district to complain, Westfall said.

The teacher, whose name was withheld, expressed his regrets to students on Monday after one of them told educators the exercise, which entailed breaking the rabbit’s neck before butchering it, was upsetting, she said.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/14/us-usa-rabbit-teacher-idUSKCN0IY2FB20141114

[JaneyVee]

1. Jeez, couldn't have just put on a dvd?

[randys1]

2. One could argue this is a valuable lesson to us in that we really need to stop killing

animals as we do not need to.

[former9thward]

3. How do people think animals are killed for food?

The rabbit died a more painless and less traumatic death than most animals we eat (and yes I eat animals). Children should know these things. It is apparent most adults don't.

When I was in Boy Scouts we went camping on a mountain. The scoutmaster threw a rabbit into the van and we played with it on the way up. When we got there the scoutmaster killed the rabbit instantly and taught us how to make our dinner from it. I learned a lot that trip.

[MissB]

4. Some kids can't handle dissecting a frog.

Wugh.

[RebelOne]

5. I remember dissecting a frog in biology class in junior high

and still remember the awful smell of the formaldehyde.

[csziggy]

9. Some can't handle any recognizable body parts!

For 7th grade Biology I volunteered to go to the local abattoir and pick up a beef heart for the class to dissect. Not a big deal - people routinely eat beef hearts, they are a normal part of the animals that are being killed for their meat. But some of the other kids in the class just couldn't deal with it and one girl fainted. I was never quite sure why they made a distinction between the heart and the beef they all ate on a regular basis - I thought they were just being stupid. I did learn a lot about how a mammal heart works and found the valves to be fascinating!

[Brickbat]

6. Pets or meat!

[Codeine]

7. Nobody's delicate sensibilities should ever be offended by the truth

of the origin of that nicely-packaged, pre-butchered flesh in the meat department.

[LiberalElite]

8. They asked for it - they got it

I wonder how many will give up eating animals. (I did 25 years ago.)

[Vattel]

10. What a creep. Hope he is fired.