In a heart-wrenching incident, a teacher in Central Florida has been accused of drowning two raccoons in front of a bunch of students, during the agricultural science class. The alleged teacher has been put on paid administrative leave.
According to WFTV, the incident took place at Marion County's Forest High School in Ocala. A student, who asked to remain anonymous, provided the videos to Channel 9. He also explained that the raccoons were drowned because those had killed many chickens, which were raised by the students and staff members in a shed behind the school.
The incident had left many students in a complete nightmare as the raccoons were trapped inside cages and then forcibly submerged in a large trash can of water.
"My friend said that the class before that, they were (putting) the water in the buckets," the student said.
"They finally took the cage out of the water, and they trapped it into another smaller cage, where the top of the cage would go down into the water. And that's how they killed the second one," the student added.
In one video, a raccoon was seen struggling as the cage was being drowned gradually.
Watch the video here.
[WARNING: THE BELOW VIDEO CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES, WHICH MIGHT BE DISTURBING TO SOME VIEWERS.]
The entire incident left his parents also very disappointed as one mother told WFTV, "We want people to know he had them in cages, he had them trapped. He could have had somebody come and relocate the animals."
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and The Marion County School District have been reportedly investigating the incident while the latter said in a statement: "Marion County Public Schools is appalled at the actions of an agri-science teacher accused of killing nuisance animals in front of students earlier this week.
"While the district conducts its own investigation, we are now aware two additional agencies are also investigating -- the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Florida Department of Health. Regardless of the investigative outcomes, Superintendent Dr. Heidi Maier is recommending termination."
The teacher, who remains unidentified, has been defended by the Facebook page for the school's Future Farmers of America alumni.
They said, "He has always gone above and beyond his call of duty to ensure that his students had everything they needed. He has spent late nights, weekends and has provided around the clock support for his club and for his school," the statement read. "He is a man of faith and has always provided the wisdom and guidance needed for his students to succeed. He is a supporter of the agriculture industry and the FFA."
In a similar incident, a turtle was brutally killed by a 15-year-old in Boston in May 2017. The accused girl said that she was bored, so she "microwaved" her pet. The viral video sparked backlash on social media and an online petition was launched in a bid to get Boston police to press animal cruelty charges against the teenager.
