Stray pups saved from the snake
Posted by MelSkunk (Melissa Drake) on Mon 4 Mar 2002 - 15:33
A high school teacher in Wichita, Kansas, had used rats before to demonstrate the eating habits of the classroom snakes, but a similar experement with puppies had to be halted because the pupils became very upset by the idea.
The puppies were destined to be put down by the local pound, but a member of the school board adopted them and gave them to the teacher, Matthew Patton, for snake food because he "hates to see any life wasted".
The school acknowledged that while most people don't mind seeing a rat go, "When you have soft, cuddly puppies there are people who get real concerned."
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MelSkunk (Melissa Drake) — read stories — contact (login required)a student and Skunk from Toronto, ON, interested in writting, art, classic cars and animals
Comments
To borrow from Denis Leary....
"What are you?"
"I'm an otter."
"And what do you do?"
"I swim around on my back and do cute little human things with my hands."
"You're free to go."
"And what are you?"
"I'm a cow."
"Get in the truck, pal!"
"But I'm an animal!"
"You're a baseball glove! Get on that truck!"
Ah yes, how upset people become at the death (or prospective death) of any given creature appears to be determined only by what genus the parctiular animal belongs to. I find it amusing that many people have no problem with the idea of eating a cow, or a chicken, or any other number of creatures... but will become positively irate if other people should do differently (Koreans who prepare dog, for example?).
I wonder what Hindu folk think of Americans scarfing down Big Macs and Whoppers every day. It's interesting that you don't see them campaigning against us to "stop the cruelty." Maybe they're a little more enlightened about respecting the rights and beliefs of others...
I think the board member is being rather practical, even if it is sad theat these puppies couldn't find homes. Maybe this also indicates that there's a set of lessons that might need to be taught in the school: One, snakes don't subsist entirely on gerbils in the wild and two, life isn't just about how cute and cuddly you are.
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