Robert Crosland, Preston Junior High School Science teacher, fed a (live or deceased?) puppy to a snapping turtle he had in his classroom.
Jill Parrish, the woman who reported the animal cruelty to police, is now receiving death threats and states she had to take her daughter out of school and she plans to leave the area because of the major backlash.
Meanwhile, students and parents alike are signing a petition to allow Mr. Crosland to keep his position as a teacher. There are nearly 2500 signatures. The community of 3500 is rallying behind Mr. Crosland.
There is another petition to have Mr. Crosland fired for his actions. This are nearly 75,000 signatures.
There is a steep divide between Mr. Crosland’s supporters and detractors. It’s perplexing to hear anyone say this is the circle of life. Or drowning is a humane manner in which to kill an animal.
Confusion looms as to whether or not the puppy was alive or dead when fed to the turtle. Some say he was drowned prior to be fed to the school turtle. Here is an excerpt from a parent whose boys were in the classroom when the incident happened:
“If anyone has a right to be upset, it is me,” said Farahlyn Hansen, whose two boys were there when the sick puppy was fed to the snapping turtle. My kids are very upset about the way (Crosland) is being portrayed in the news.”
Hansen said she was the first person her boys talked to after the incident, and it wasn’t because the puppy perished. It was because of the way a female staff member (Parrish) at Preston Junior High School reacted when she heard the puppy crying. (Why would a (justified) upset woman make her boys upset?
The upset staff member never entered the room where the puppy was fed to the turtle, Hansen said. Hansen said her boys told her that Crosland exited the room to talk to the staff member after she began unlocking the classroom’s door to find out what was going on. After Crosland told the female staff member what was happening to the puppy, the staff member became very upset.
“They told me that she was screaming. They could hear her through the closed door. I asked if they could hear (Crosland) and they said they couldn’t,” Hansen said about her boys. “That was really upsetting to them. People are totally looking at this wrong.” (How are people viewing this act wrong? When we hear of animal cruelty inflicted upon a defenseless puppy, a normal reaction is to be upset, by most accounts.)
Hansen said her boys told her that the puppy had been abandoned by its mother and was brought to Crosland because the owner didn’t want to deal with its death, hoping the teacher could save it. Crosland couldn’t. (Why wasn’t the puppy taken to a veterinarian or a shelter for help and not a science teacher? hmmmm)
Its death was imminent, Hansen said, so Crosland explained to the students that the puppy should be used to keep another animal alive. (So Mr. Crosland teaches his students it’s ok to feed a dying puppy to another animal. Dogs are domesticated and kept in homes as beloved members of many families in the United States.)
Hansen said she’s “not upset” that the puppy was fed to the turtle. She said, “I felt like it was the more humane thing for (Crosland) to do than to just leave it to die.” (Feeding a puppy to a turtle whether the puppy was alive or drowned is NOT humane! Most people would agree.)
Even students didn’t have an issue with the actions of this man. Este Hull, a 7th-grade student at Preston Junior High, has no problem with what the teacher did. “I’ve only heard him feed like mice or birds to his animals…I feel a little bit better that it was a puppy that was going to die, not just a healthy puppy,” said Hull. Wow!
It’s a sentiment echoed by parents, Annette Salvesen and Julie Johnson. “If it was a deformed puppy that was going to die anyway.”
The community is clearly on Crosland’s side. Is the law also on the teacher’s side?
Apparently not.
Idaho’s statutes on animal abuse forbids the intentional and malicious infliction of death on animals and needless suffering and unnecessary cruelty. Euthanasia must be humane. Feeding a live puppy to a snapping turtle is not humane. Drowning is also NOT a humane method of “euthanasia.”
Drowning is a method to kill animals that is convenient for humans. Euthanasia is a good death which occurs without distress of pain. Drowning takes minutes rather than seconds when pentobarbital is injected into an animal’s leg to produce death. A death that requires minutes rather than seconds to die is not considered euthanasia.
If the puppy was alive and fed by a person to a another animal to be ripped apart, the person is guilty of inflicting animal cruelty.
If the puppy was drowned as other reports have said, the person is still guilty of animal cruelty because drowning is not an accepted method of humane euthanasia.
What was ultimately gained by having a puppy die so he could be fed to a snapping turtle? What lesson has been taught by this school? Bullying a person or threatening the person who reported an act of animal abuse is seen as okay. But the horrific way the puppy died is not abuse because he was sick, dying or deformed? What are they teaching kids at this school?
The puppy should’ve been taken to a veterinarian for help or humanely euthanized.
Tina Evangelista-Eppenstein is a television talk show host, speaker, writer and is an unabashed animal advocate. Her love for animals and quest for the hard truth is what drives her passion for all things animals. She hosts the show, ” A Close-Up Look at Animal Welfare Issues.” She adores her once-abused tripawd, Brody. If you’d like Tina to talk to your group or have a story, please email her at tevangelistaepp@yahoo.com. Like https://www.facebook.com/ACloseUpLookAtAnimalWelfareIssues and check out AnimalWelfareIssues.com for all the tv shows, articles, and podcasts you may have missed!
What is taught there?
Animal cruelty is ok with this town. It’s sick. Demented.
The teacher has taught his class that animal cruelty is normal and justified if the animal is sickly, deformed or dying which we know is NOT true. Scary what he, students and the community believe.
Thank you.
This teacher needs to b fired. Blatant animal cruelty!!!
Yes it is! Needs to be fired!
To anyone with an ounce of compassion, it is animal cruelty. Can’t speak for those who believe this was normal. Crosland needs to be charged with animal cruelty.
Thank you.
Anyone that doesn’t have a problem
with this is very sick! The pup should have been taken to the vet. Normal people do not agree with this so called teacher.
I question anyone who agrees with either drowning a puppy or feeding a live puppy to a snapping turtle as being humane. Their logic is flawed and quite scary.
I wonder what and how they’re taught about the circle of life since that is what so many have said who support him.
I don’t know why the puppy wasn’t taken to the vet. Crosland apparently “tried” to make the puppy better but it didn’t work. Have no idea what he did.
It’s a very disturbing story, to say the least.
Thank you.
The teacher needs to be fired and reported to Police.
Jill Parrish needs to be recognized for her courage to stand up for the rights of the puppy, A LIFE.
Those who choose to threaten the life of Jill should be reported to the Police,
I absolutely support Jill Parrish’s actions to report this inhumane torture of an animal. Children should be taught kindness toward animals, not violence.
If the puppy was sick it should have been taken to a vet or a shelter.
Whose judgement was it that the puppy was sick anyway? It sounds like an excuse in an attempt to cover up a horrific act of violence.
The woman who had the kitten. She gave him to the teacher because she didn’t know what to do. He said the kitten wasn’t going to get better so he decided to feed him to the turtle. It’s called the circle of life. Circle of life my a$! Sick people!
The woman who had the kitten. She gave him to the teacher because she didn’t know what to do. He said the kitten wasn’t going to get better so he decided to feed him to the turtle. It’s called the circle of life. Circle of life my a$! Sick people!
The case is being investigated but there has been no mention if the people who are threatening Jill Parrish are being investigated. Threats of violence toward a person can’t be ignored because it is a criminal action.
The woman who originally had the kitten took him to the science teacher because she said he was too sick and didn’t know what to do and couldn’t afford the care. Why she chose Mr. Crosland, I simply don’t know.
Crosland and his supporters don’t see what he did to the puppy as an act of violence.
Disturbing! Thank you.
The human waste that are backing this scum needs to be disposed out of the school system.
He smiling in the photograph While feeding a ratto the turtle. Yeah that makes me believe he has compassion. Not. What is he teaching his students? Smh
THIS MUST BE GOING VIRAL. THIS MAN NEED TO NEVER WORK WITH KIDS.
SS
FOOL…………..had to say it.
It is!
It has gone viral.
The teacher hasn’t been suspended and is still teaching science in the same classroom.
Hopefully all of the notoriety will wake up the investigators and the school to see what a horrible act of animal cruelty he inflicted upon this innocent puppy.
Thank you.
This so called teacher is a sick freak. He is teaching children to disrespect animals and that feeding animals, live, dead or domesticated of any kind to reptiles is acceptable. He is sick and demented and needs to be FIRED. He is probably a serial killer or tortures animals. Sick sick sick!
It seems the students as well as the parents disrespect animals by saying what Crosland did was okay. Many don’t see the problem feeding the puppy whether he was alive or dead to the snapping turtle. It sure is disturbing to know this is how this community thinks and feels. This is animal cruelty but they don’t think it is. How many other animals have been fed to other animals since it’s acceptable there?
The school stands behind Crosland too. Very sad.
Thank you.
Over 3000 supporting Crosland to 146,000 who want him fired! No contest! Fire his butt. Because of him, two animals have lost their lives! Plus he fed a live puppy to a snapping turtle.
He is moron of the year! He doesn’t deserve to be able to teach. He taught animal cruelty repeatedly.
What are they waiting for to charge him? Stupid place! Students are brainwashed into thinking he was doing good. Scares me what they’ll do with pets.
What’s wrong with this entire community? They all believe animal abuse is fine. They think feeding a sick puppy to a snapping turtle is normal? They’re sick and disturbed like the teacher.
I’m not surprise that the woman in the school districts hi wants this teacher fired is getting death threats. These people are crazy. That community is scary.
I’m confused by this community who not only stands by this teacher but agrees that feeding a live (sickly/deformed/dying) puppy is the “circle of life.”
Plus the attacks on the woman who reported this abusive incident are appalling. The fact that a parent said her son was more upset with that woman yelling outside of the science classroom than a puppy being eaten alive is so revealing and is very scary!
Thank you.