Puppy snke food?

[Rex322]

http://www.venomousreptiles.org/articles/117

Teacher Wants to feed Puppies to Snake
from viperidaefan on July 4, 2002
View comments about this article!

A teacher's plan to feed three unwanted puppies to boa constrictors during a high school biology class was stymied after complaints from some parents and tears from some students. Matthew Patton, a teacher at Bluestem High School in this southeast Kansas town, keeps two of the snakes in his classroom and sometimes feeds them during class so students can see how they eat.

Three puppies were donated Tuesday by Davy Harkins, a school board member who operates a shelter where animals are put to sleep for the local pound. Patton approached the feeding from a scientific perspective, Principal Dale Harper said.

"I'm not sure that he considered the sensitivity of some people when it involved what's considered a pet," said Harper, a former biology teacher. "Very few people have a problem with seeing a rat go."Harkins said he saw the dogs being fed to the snakes as something productive since they would have been destroyed otherwise. He is now trying to find them homes.

"I see how many puppies go unwanted every week," Harkins said. "I hate to see any life wasted." Harper said there are campaigns afoot to have Patton fired but there were no violations and the issue was resolved without any puppies being harmed.

"I think he does a good job for us," Harper said. "This just happened to be a very sensitive issue."

Harper said he was told about Patton's plan for the puppies Wednesday morning by a school official who had received a complaint from a parent. Harper said he asked Patton not to feed the puppies to the snakes and Patton immediately agreed. Harper said he saw a few students crying.

"When you have soft, cuddly puppies ... there are people who get real concerned," he said. Patton has been a teacher at the school for about five years and there has never been any serious problems with his teaching, Harper said.

[hisba]

that is disturbing, what in the heck was that teacher thinking? I mean, I understand trying to not 'waste', but.. in front of kids? puppies? sheesh!!
And I assume from the story these were live puppies? Um.. puppies have sharp lil teeth, not to mention the needless suffering of feeding any animal live to a snake.
ahh this is the type of story that makes the rest of us look bad.

[buck2003]

What does it mean when they say " He's been with us for about 5 years without any serious problems" Does that mean they had lots of minor problems with him?
What kind of example is he setting to kids with that attitude?

[xxxjustinxxx]

this is EXACTLY why our hobby is in "danger", people doing stupid things makjing reptiles look bad, why would you even do anything like that ? puppies are way diffrent story then mice or rats. well i jus dont want to say anymore or some bad words are gunna come out

[EyeOfTheStorm]

Can this guy just do us all a favor and swallow a handful of sleeping pills? He was teaching KIDS, what on earth did he think would happen when attempting to feed puppies to a snake. IMO, he shouldnt have the snakes at all in the classroom. Its one thing to bring them in on occasion, but snakes arent for everyone. It creates not only a stressful environment for the students, but the snakes as well.

	In My Opinon IMO = In My Opinion and IMHO = In My Honest Opinion

[Yorick]

Yeh stupid people like this make all herp owners look like heartless morons. I guess I could have told you this in person rex seeing how you were right next to me while I wrote this but o well lol.

[Jimbo239]

Yeah I definately agree with everyone else. I mean I can see where this teacher is coming from, the animals were being put down and all, but this guy just severely lacked common sense when making this decision. I wouldn't even expect to do something like this in college, let alone in high school. And yes... this does make snake owners look pretty bad

[Rex322]

justin, i agree with you. it is the foolish choices of immature people that make the rest of us look bad. as for the snake not being in the classroom, you dont know the full story, he could have asked the kids and they could of had no problem with it. my 10th grade science teacher had a 6-7ft BCI in his room and no one had a problem with it.

	Boa Constrictor Imperator Boa Constrictor (Boa constrictor imperator). Most common is the Colombian Boa.

[5723810v]

Puppies??? is this "teacher" NUTS??

[Rex322]

nope, just crazy

[normballpython2]

wow that has to be one of the dumbest things i have read all day. who in sam h@ll would wanna feed a puppy to a snake. wth is the benefit of doing so? that teacher just wanted to show off. (and that is one retarded way to show off a snake)

Brian

[-=krissi=-]

that is silly and really does makes every other reptile keeper look bad.
i can see his point in that they were going to be killed anyway so why "see any life going to waste"....but JEEZ!!!
i wonder if he was planning on killing them before feeding them to the snakes....
either way, that's really a good thing to show high school kids.
what a freakin' moron.

honestly, if my teacher had tried to pull that crap with our class boa i would have probably went all Columbine on his butt

[Alphafemale118]

This story is repulsive. I have been in the veterinary field for years working as a Vet Tech. After reading the begininng of the article, I'm lead to believe that the so called "shelter" only operates to euthanize animals. This is something I've never heard of. First of all, there is no animal more adoptable than a puppy. Unless it's sick, in which case, you don't want to feed it to you're snake anyway. I can't figure out how this guy would logically think, under any circumstance, it would be o.k. to do this. This is defenitley the most bizaire and ridiculous thing I've ever heard of.