Alleged: cat castrated without anesthetic in class by students at school

Stephens County High School?
There was outrage last week when it was reported an animal had been castrated at a Georgia high school. I became interested in this case because Toccoa, located in Stephens County, is only one county over from where my maternal family lives. I covered the story here on Examiner, as it wasn’t announced whether a cat or dog was involved. We now understand that it was a cat.
The actual act of castration was conducted by the science teacher but the students participated in holding the cat. The students were accomplices.
I also understand that the cat belonged to the instructor at Stephens County High School and was taken into their Animal Science (agriculture) class. During this class it was held down by the students and castrated, without benefit of anesthesia. Bryan Dorsey, Superintendent for Stephens County Schools, says he was notified of the situation, and has made the following media statement
“We have had high school administration looking into one, our first concern, about the safety of our students, making sure there were no protocols we need to be checking on there so that is being done. We are making sure we review the curriculum and appropriate protocols with our staff. We want to make sure that is also being done. Concerning any further questioning of the staff member involved, that person has chosen to resign, so we are not able to follow up with that. The teacher that resigned was Mr. Hebert.”
While Dorsey believes there is a place in an appropriate farm setting for students to learn the proper procedure for castration, it shouldn’t take place in a classroom. Dorsey goes on to say that the behavior isn’t condoned.
The Toccoa-Stephens County Humane Shelter Director Jeff Roberts says Animal Control has reached out to other state agencies to investigate the incident. Local agencies are conducting their own investigation. There is the issue of whether animal cruelty charges should be filed against Mr. Hebert.
Can you imagine the mental, as well as physical anguish, inflicted upon this helpless cat? I can’t imagine the fear it experienced from being held down by a bunch of strangers. The pain of being castrated without anesthesia of any kind. To me, this was a sadistic act that was performed not only on the cat, but on the students in the class. A lot of students are hesitant these days to dissect a dead animal, much less a pet like many probably have at home.
I wonder how many students spoke out against this, and were chastised, belittled or ignored. How long will these students have nightmares about that day? Will any of them require counseling? These are all valid concerns the parents need to take up with the school board.
As for the readers, please comment on whether you believe animal cruelty charges are needed for this despicable act.
So, there is a question as to whether or not a person in charge of educating students should be dismissed after torturing an animal and promoting students to take part in the act?? That the question even exists says plenty about the school district and it’s administrators. This was, plain and simple, an act of torture. The act was committed on school grounds and students, instead of being taught what is morally and ethically right, were encouraged to take part in the act. The fact that the poor creature was “his” does not make this act any less horrible. What else goes on between this “teacher” and “his” animals? If this teacher can stand there and say that this is totally acceptable, then I say we castrate him without anesthetic so that he may prove his point. He has exhibited horrible misconduct and has taught his students that torture is acceptable behavior. Disgusting and shame that the school district and those in charge are missing the backbone necessary to do what is right. Perhaps they should check his classroom for it.
Well if this area of the state is ambivalent about sadistic animal abuse and torture then they need to hear from the rest of the country that isn’t. This teacher committed a crime that involved a helpless, innocent victim and had students help him commit the crime. He should not be allowed to be around kids or animals. Ridiculous that this is being debated.
My sentiments exactly but people defended him. Please make more comments. They’ll be published instantly.
Mine are awaiting moderation and have not been published instantly.
All future comments of yours will be published immediately. Thanks for commenting.
I live near this county, and I agree the teacher should be DISMISSED immediately, and charges brought…however, in this part of the state, the residents are backward, and completely ambivalent about it. The local elected officials are ultra-conservative (this county was part of that combined drug force that threw the flash-bang grenade into that baby’s playpen a few months back) and are trying to take this county back to 1948. They are only interested in downtown revitalization, “just like it used to be.” It is well-known for its high-school drop-out rate, the dwindling local economy, and service-oriented menial job opportunities. The city/county are the two largest employers in the county. It is the joke of the state of Georgia. So, don’t get your hopes up too high.
Hi, your comment adds nicely to the page and helps me understand why some people defend his actions, which I discuss in a follow up page:
https://pictures-of-cats.org/people-defend-teacher-who-castrated-two-cats-in-school-classroom-while-students-assist.html
Thanks for sharing your “on the front line” experiences. Come back, please 😉
I covered that one! http://www.examiner.com/article/georgia-swat-team-threatened-after-toddler-critically-injured-by-flash-grenade
Thank you for posting this. I am from Toccoa-Stephens County Georgia. All of this is true. The agriculture teacher castrated two kittens in class. Some of the students participated by holding down the kittens. One student was bitten. The kittens were given ibuprofen (i know, toxic to cats) and lidocaine spray for pain. No charges against the teacher, Mr. Daniel Hebert, have been filed yet. Animal Control is investigating. A few of us have spoken out against Mr. Hebert but most of the county’s population see nothing wrong with this. We “trouble makers” are still writing letters and speaking out. Please join us in making noise. This is animal cruelty and illegal and Mr. Hebert should be charged. You can read news articles at http://www.wnegradio.com Thank you.
Your comment backs up what another visitor has said. I wrote about this on a follow up page:
https://pictures-of-cats.org/people-defend-teacher-who-castrated-two-cats-in-school-classroom-while-students-assist.html
Thanks for helping us to understand the attitude of people in this area. It seems that a proportion of society have a less than enlightened approach to animal welfare.
I’m not even going to look at that article as i feel disgusted. How can anyone do such a thing. Especially in a School Enviroment. Deeply sadeened. 🙁
…as long as I am “there”, these are the conversations I imagined would be had with our dear Michael, given his former vocation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL5M00bXNzc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LG7WQfpEs8
🙂 I almost choked on my tea. I remember this skit from years ago. I am not actually like that… LOL. I’m quite normal (well I think I am).
The reason why you comment was held for moderation had nothing to do with me but the anti-spam software. If I sees two links it holds the comment because spammers include links.
When the original “Declaration of Independence” was drafted in protest to your King, dear Michael, those claiming “Titles of Nobility” (specifically ‘Esquire’) were to be “set off from the shore”.
No mention was ever made of providing them with a boat.
I wish we could share a bit of tea, dear Michael. Mine has a taste of juniper and coriander in it this morn, as you might surmise.
OK new article, which links PoC back in and has all the contact info included.
http://wnegradio.com/teacher-at-center-of-schs-cat-incident-withdraws-resignation/
That teacher should be sacked from teaching and prosecuted for animal abuse.
There is no need for school children to learn anything about surgery, time enough if they choose to be doctors or vets, to learn theory at university and then practically in veterinary clinics where animals are anaesthetised for surgery.
There is no need for them even to disect creatures at all at school in these days of high technology, everything can be done virtually without killing living creatures. Frogs etc have as much right to live as anything else on this planet!
Children need to learn to respect all forms of life and learn they are not the only ones to feel fear and pain. They should be taught compassion and kindness instead.
And it is.not alleged they neutered him probably used bactine . Tons of eyewitnesses who will not come forward bc they fear for jobs or deliverance style justice
He is gojng back to,work tomorrow nothing is happening tomhim, no he is not a vet, it was a feral kitten think. Not even a vet tech..
Thanks Marchino for that extra information. I would be very surprised if anyone is even reprimanded. No one will be charged with a crime which appears to have happened if the allegations are true. “It is only a cat” people will say.
Well maybe they can arrest him for animal cruelty there. I’d hate to have a teacher everyone is afraid of. Wonder whose ass he kissed to get back in.
Is there any contact info available where people can call or email the school officials, law enforcement, county commissioners, school board?
Notnear computer but you can google stephens county georgia governnment or stephens county georgia school district and info should pop up.
Can we not start a petition? If we can do something then at least my demented mind and tears won’t be for nothing?
Phone calls and emails may be more effective. I posted an article link below where I updated him going back to work and all contact is on there. If anyone wants to start a petition I can post the link on all my articles. I just have way too much on my plate to do the petitions. Right now I have 200 shelter pet updates and am behind 7 articles. But I’d be glad to crosspost any links. I knows with JW calls to Belton got results way more than the petitions did. Call the sheriff. Number is listed.
FAX ’em. It is “old school”, but faxes carry more weight than can be imagined.
It puts a sheet of paper with your thoughts on it in “the man”‘s hands.
A fax ALWAYS ends up on a desk somewhere.
Letters are routinely “round filed” (trashed). Emails are simply ignored. Telephone messages are not even listened to.
Surprisingly, a facsimile transmission works like no other form of communication when trying to communicate with “the powers that be”.
(it MUST be a “real” fax, too. A sheet of paper, obviously fed into a true fax machine, with crinkles, warts and smudges. An internet-created fax is too clean, too sterile to be acknowledged. As a Barrister, Michael should be likely be able to confirm this as fact. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDtp5nFV9tA)
Just the facts,Ma’am.
I emailed the superintendant
Too horrifying for words.
I want to form a lynch mob.
If I lived near you Dee I’d bloody well join you!
me too
One of the difficulties I envision, is how children (yes,’Senior High School Students’ are still, basically, very much children – even though we regularly court them to Military Service to kill for our great country in our name, place and stead…) will want to emulate, practice, and continue to learn on their own.
Latchkey kid walks into the empty flat, sees kitty and says “ask me what I learned in school today, Fluffy!
The fact their initial experience with this education, hands-on training and classroom participation in the procedure involved learning to disassociate themselves from the SCREAMS, CRIES AND TORMENT OF A LIVING, FULLY CONSCIOUS CREATURE being brutalized horrifically.
We need more children that are capable of such atrocities. Our War Machines hunger for these very skills being taught in Stephens County, Georgia.
Any child that can be taught to nut a cat (improvise a bit here:) with a broken piece of beer bottle, will likely in the future be capable to make a Terrorist admit that he was part of The Great Train Robbery of 1963, just through proper administration of an un-sharpened pencil.
Gawd Bless the modern education system. People like the teacher Mr. Herbert have society’s best interest at heart, I just know.
NEXT WEEK’S LESSON: How to De-Claw your Neighbor’s Cat with a Pocket Fingernail Clipper, for Fun and Profit!
That is a very good point well made. Do you feel that society is becoming more brutalised with the endless terrorism – a background WW3? We are used to bombs going off in shopping malls these days. It is almost a way of life. 20 years ago it was unheard of. And we get war live on TV. That is a new thing too.
“Incremental Acclimatization”
We are the frogs in the pot of water.
The ‘Powers that Be’ twist the dial on the stove.
We are certainly that. Come the revolution….
Spoken like a true Yank, Michael!
I’ll wave at your head when I cross the bridge.
Bruce if you ever write a ebook on your thoughts I def buy it. You hit the nail on the head 🙂
If someone cannot handle the fact that animals are mistreated and abused, it is best to not expose oneself to any type of media.
Looking away, ignoring, doesn’t make it go away. Exposing the abusers and holding them accountable for their crimes will help to stop the abuse.
You have to know what will upset you. Michael has reported on crush videos. I absolutely cannot and will not open an article or video on this topic. I’ve been able to research any other topic but that one will never happen. Leah needs to do the same if she can’t handle a subject. No need to stop reading everything I write. I know of several regulars here who won’t like this article. To me it says parents need to discuss this to their high schoolers about what to do if faced with something like this.
I certainly have gotten an education on how cruel and horrific some people are just in the past several years, and not from anything you have written. The ability of man- and woman-kind to inflict pain on other beings runs the gamut from neglect to outright torture. And without social media, I would still be in my little corner of the world, which, while not idyllic is certainly not witness to the cruelty of which humans are capable. I could have just turned away, but do what I now can to be involved, to give the voiceless voice.
Yes, the internet has brought us closer to animal abuse and cruelty. We know much more. We are wiser but sometimes I wonder whether it is good to know about humankind’s ability to be cruel to animals and what they do. The more we know the more depressed we can become.
Actually the point is Elisa that based on what I’ve read to date actually I do need to stop reading everything you write because you only seem to write about the sickest most depraved animal cruelty that I can do nothing about! I really think that your articles should carry a warning so that we can choose whether to read them or not not suddenly have a notification that throws this horrific thing in your face. Also lets not forget Michael also writes articles on here for for children so would you really want a child reading an article like this one?
I do a lot of shelter urgent promotions and donation articles as well. Helped raise over $50000 so far this year. It’s hard to know which site to publish which. But you’d have to take it up with Michael on what to publish. I send him a lot and ask whether he wants it or not. Plus the ones I know I may need to go into and change get on Examiner. I write to warn people but some do get upset. I do agree we need a warning system.
Leah, if you think Elisa writes only about sick and depraved animal cruelty, you are mistaken. Could it be that something in your brain that you unconsciously resist draws your attention to articles about cruelty and rather than address those issues within yourself, you blame the messenger?
I think one of the aspects of writing about cat news stories is that they naturally follow all news stories which are generally about troublesome subjects and problems. And Elisa writes cat and dog news stories.
Please do not presume to know me, Susan you know nothing about me. I have nothing in my subconscious that makes me want to look at this stuff I would rather avoid it unless I can have a positive impact to make it stop.
Oh, I wouldn’t dare, which is why I asked the question and did not make a presumptive statement.
I can handle the fact that animals are abused believe me I’ve seen some things and I’ve read some things and I will continue to do so but I don’t need it shoved in my face especially when there’s nothing I can do about it! Show me the most horrific animal cruelty then show me what I can do to help it stop and I’ll read every word and I’ll look at every picture!
One of the most cruel things I’m subjected to on a daily basis through FB is de-clawing especially routine surgery and four paw declaw! I comment on as much as I can I sign petitions I do whatever I can to try and educate people to the horrors so please don’t tell me I look away and ignore because I don’t!
Leah, you say you’re shutting the door and going away. Unless you’re truly gone, would you forgive me for asking where? (Or, as they say in my neck of the woods, ‘Where “TO”?)
Last week, or whenever, I wrote in a PoC-comment how much I admired someone from my student days, a history professor who confessed to me once that it was ‘impossible to like most people.’
Was he a curmudgeon? An ogre? No. Here are a couple of paragraphs from an article I wrote years ago for the Seattle P-I.
‘He hasn’t changed.
‘His eyes flicker with the same quiet humor that seems to distill what loud laughter dispels. His reluctance to talk about himself is as remarkable as ever in an era of intense self-searching. And his liberal views can still raise hackles.
‘Embellished by a wit that inspires respect, Giovanni Costigan’s love of learning and command of language combine to sustain the illusion that he is perennial. . .’
‘. . .As he was years ago, he remains an enigma: a humane and scholarly man who accepts what he considers to be the lack of evidence that human nature has evolved over the centuries. . .
. . . ‘Summing up what he has learned from his lifelong study of history, he gazes thoughtfully, for some moments, at a profusion of books and papers strewn on his desk. “I’ve learned that it’s better not to read history if you wish to preserve your optimism,” he says. “When you tell people that human nature hasn’t changed substantially in 10,000 years, they think you’re paying them a compliment.
‘“There’s a greater humanitarianism now than the Western world has ever seen. Yet when we act in organized groups, we’re as atavistic as we always have been. And we accept this cheerfully. As Einstein wrote in our own time: ‘It is easier to denature plutonium than to denature the evil spirit of man.’”
‘Paradoxically, his stark worldview has increased his interest in issues and ideas. His belief that reason has usually played a subordinate role in the conduct of human affairs exists side-by-side with a passionate commitment to learning. . .’
______________________________________________
To examine the ‘conduct of human affairs’ in a shade more detail, here’s a paraphrase of the anthropologists S. L Washburn and V. Avis’s insights on hunting, written in 1958 (their work is still copyrighted):
‘Hunters delight in killing other animals. In the absence of training to mask the instinct, humans glory in stalking and killing. All throughout history, in nearly all cultures, the infliction of excruciating pain, the cries of torment and, in a grand climax, the death of the victim, were and still are offered up as public entertainment.’
Have you ever seen photos of Deep South lynchings? With their brood of kids and picnic baskets, the crowds are riotous with joy. Forget the name of the artist – it might have been ‘Phiz” who illustrated Dickens’s novels. Whoever it was, Dickens’s Tale of Two Cities (underlined) has a drawing of a woman seated near the guillotine, her teeth bared, beaming with excitement.
Although he’s been criticized for being somewhat out of date, Robert Ardrey, in my opinion, wrote with a philosophical depth unsurpassed even by Spengler. He rejected the post-Freudian notion that cruelty is usually caused by child abuse. In common with Freud and Melanie Klein (among other psychoanalysts), he believed it was innate, an evolutionary safeguard, and studied its positive aspects. Savagery toward the ‘out-group,’ he wrote, sustains peace and cohesion amongst members of the ‘in-group.’ The downside? Humanity lags behind the rest of the animal kingdom. Birds, beasts and our scaly kinfolk display enormous hostility toward rivals during the mating season, and any of their kind that dare trespass on the turf they’ve staked out for themselves. With this tragic difference: they bellow and rage, dart at the villain, leap heavenwards, shriek, bare their fangs, wave their arms and clash antlers. While bull elks can gore their competitors
to death, most every animal he and others studied stop short of killing each other. Except the killer-human.
Are some cultures peace-loving? The Cretans (Minoans) probably came as close to being so as any discovered. For one thing, they weren’t into matadors & picadors: they liked ‘bull-dancers.’ Moreover, their pantheon was matriarchal. Their deities were wasp-waisted babes with Dolly Parton bosoms. But even in this culture, excavations have uncovered traces of human sacrifice.
If statisticians could come up with any solid statistics, how many millions of people would they find who liked using a cat as a football? And how many men would they find who enjoyed getting down on the floor and luring a kitten out of its hidey-hole with prawns and baby-talk? Is the first closer to run-of-the-mill, and the second an anomaly? Hopefully not — for all that hope achieves. Yet Ruthie and Babz, who dote on their boyz, have neighbors with strangled cats hanging out of windows, dogs yapping from boredom and neglect, and still more dogs fed slimy kibbles crawling with slugs.
Whether a survey turned up more of the first than the second – or vice versa? – we readily label the first as ‘brainless, thoughtless sociopaths.’ As stated above, we also embrace the theory that battered children become cruel themselves (though child abuse helps), while flat-out rejecting tangible, scientific proof that it can also arise from structural variations in the brain – to name one example, a malformed conduit between the forebrain and the amygdala, or something – and biochemical variations. Why do we do this? Here’s one explanation: whether we’re people of faith or secular humanists, we’re offended by findings that jolt our morality like a mechanical bull: namely, our ingrained concepts of ‘good’ and ‘evil,’ ‘right,’ ‘wrong’ and ‘free will‘ – and the retribution wrongdoing deserves. Mechanistic explanations are repugnant to most people.
To further cloud the issue, it may have been Hitler’s henchman, Hermann Goering (though I could be wrong: I read this years ago), who felt guilt-ridden if he accidentally stepped on an earthworm. And as for sociopathic ‘brainlessness,’ some of Hitler’s highest ranking officials were PhDs. Like it or not, selective compassion is everywhere.
My mother, who spent thousands of dollars of my father’s earnings on veterinary fees, gleefully zapped spiders in the bathtub with gobs of foam from his spray-can of shaving cream. I cried for maybe half an hour when my mother died, and for more than a year – and still do – over my boy and little girl. My mother was nine years older than my father, old and frail and had lived a good, long life. Yet my boy was also old and frail, and his death broke my heart. Watching my boy sink away was a torment that equaled what I felt to watch my father die.
Be that as it may, there are different kinds of cruelty – some oblivious, some sadistic or insensitive. When I was five years old, my father caught a butterfly I admired, and skewered it to a board with a hatpin. All I remember was looking at the wretched creature and exclaiming out how pretty it was. I hadn’t an inkling how it was suffering.. Years ago, I had a friend who told me how much she enjoyed ‘popping with a scalpel’ a frog’s beating heart in her high school vivisection class. In like manner, my mother loved popping the purple seedpods of fuchsias and the bubbles of plastic ‘bubble wrap.’ It was nearly as much fun for her as spraying spiders with foam and watching them squirm in agony.
As for insensitive cruelty, people point out that livestock aren’t companion animals, and what we do to them isn’t what we should do to our fur-child. Yet livestock suffer no less than they.
I won’t suggest you plug into these websites and look at the pictures. But I’ll quote you one or two excerpts from the sites. (As if you weren’t bludgeoned enough to last you for a while!)
(1) Because they’re companion animals, horses are anesthetized before they are gelded.
(2) Because he’s usually not considered a companion, a pig – as intelligent, loving and lovable as any cat or dog – is denied anesthetic.
(3) NOTES ON CASTRATING A PIG: ‘If he is still with his mother, it is a good idea to take him where she cannot see him while you perform the procedure. . . .(Hold all four legs) then squeeze the testicle to push it through the cut. Grab it and pull it out completely. Cut the attached white cord. In a young pig, continue pulling on the testicle until the red cord (the blood vessel) snaps.’
(4) ‘HOW TO CAPONIZE YOUR BACKYARD CHICKEN: ‘Don’t feel bad if you loose [sic] a few chickens when you first start out. . . you will loose a few until you get the hang of it.’ After this lighthearted introduction, the blogger goes on to describe how you lay the rooster on a table, tie its wings to a cord tied to a brick hanging off one end of the table, then tie its legs to a cord tied to a brick hanging off the opposite end. Next, you cut into one side of the rooster and spread its ribs to reach the testicles, which you snip or pinch off.
(5) THREE WAYS TO CASTRATE BULLS AND BULL CALVES – WIKI/HOW: ‘Tail-jacking will not stop a calf from flinching and jerking when a scalpel cuts into its scrotum. . . so choose the best castrating method . . . according to what your stomach can handle and how sensitive you are to the animal’s well-being.. . .’ And then the site shows a wicked-looking metal contraption you clap around the calf’s head to restrain it.
In all the above, the instruments include scalpels and knives, pinchers, horror-film pliers and crushing devices. For the faint-hearted, there’s also a ring you can clamp on the gonads to cut off the circulation, causing them drop off from gangrene within a few days. A purportedly ‘painless’ method.
(6) Do you want to hear about branding and dehorning?
(7) Docking dogs’ tails, then slashing and splinting their ears?
(8) Hybridizing dogs and cats until their faces are so deformed they wheeze for air, their tear ducts leak, and their skin sags to such a degree they need eyelid surgery so they can see? And all for the amusement of humans?
(9) Do you already know what has been done since ancient times, not only to harem eunuchs but to were silver-bell soprano choir boys? Until the Vatican stopped the practice around 1904, these nightingale lads could die from an opium overdose or from having their carotid arteries flattened long enough to leave them brain-dead during the surgery. Did you ever hear a castrado sing? I did once. The recording was old and tinny, and the voice eerily sublime.
But at least the boys, when they weren’t killed, were more or less rendered unconscious during the cutting. ‘Circumcised’ girls get to tough it out. So does a shrieking Jewish male infant tottering on the brink of death & dissolution while his parents and the mohel celebrate the event by quaffing wine (Mogen David – whatever.).
Does PoC post too many ‘ain’t it awful’ essays? Events no one can prevent? Or, if they can, is the prevention a drop in the ocean?
It wasn’t that long ago that inmates in an asylum were whipped, starved and exposed to public ridicule. The 18th century aristocracy relished the fascination of touring asylums to see the pitiful inmates. Their mistreatment continued until the 19th century when reformers such as Dorothea Dix did everything in their limited powers to improve the quality of their lives.
African Americans were barred from voting, and humiliated in every other conceivable way.
Jews were butchered by the millions, ‘kept in their place,’ denied higher education. Only the Muslims in centuries past treated them with decency.
Homosexuals have been hounded to the ends of the earth.
Women couldn’t vote.
Marital abuse was rampant.
These crimes keep smoldering under the surface and, given an opening, could still explode in flames. But for the time being, most victims have a legal recourse. Even in China, animal rights activists are a growing presence.
The Internet disseminates at least some reliable INFORMATION. While the progress in animal rights moves ahead at a snail’s pace, it exists to some degree. In all likelihood, this Mr. Whatever his name is has besmirched himself for the remainder. Who in God’s name would want to hire him? Or has he retained his job? Say it isn’t so. If the answer is yes – and if he’s still single – who would want to marry him? Someone of his stripe? Well, yes. But thanks to the publicity, he’s messed himself up to some extent. Shocking as such coverage is, does it still serve no purpose?
Once again, Leah – if the question isn’t too intrusive – where can you go where you need never see or hear more of these horrors? If you know of such a place, I’ll pay you my last nickel and dime for a roadmap.
Agreed. We have to at least discuss these subjects sometimes. The site can’t all be fluffy and pink. I believe in reality.
Of Course they bloody well are!!! What a stupid question!! Thanks Elisa for yet again making me demented and knowing that for days I will have the imagine of this poor defenceless cat in my mind!! As soon as I was emailed the title I knew it was one of your posts. I’m sorry I’m going to have to stop coming on here I cannot stand this anymore. If we can do something about it then by all means tell us but whats the point if we can’t? Why the hell do we need to know?
Oh God Leah. My tamer stuff goes here. The real horror stories go on Examiner. The only way we can stop this is to know about it. At least you can tell by the title whether you can handle reading the article. I have to deal with a lot that I don’t like.
Thats the thing Elisa I read the title and the images that I had in my head I didn’t need to read anymore! The title spelt it all out!! Words fail me I feel tortured by what that cat went through! The only justice would be for that ‘teacher’ to have his balls cut off with a rusty knife without anaesthetic! But no that isn’t going to happen is it because he is a human; a person with feelings whereas a cat is so much lower down the food chain who of course has no feelings, doesn’t feel pain or fear I would strangle that bloody teacher! I wonder if he has ever been held down by strangers and struggled to escape not knowing what was going to happen to him? No likely not pity though eh?
Sorry Elisa I’ve had to unsubscribe I can’t read your stories anymore they affect me too much especially when I can do nothing, so goodbye and thank you for putting images in my head that will never leave me and for giving me nightmares yes thanks for that
Good night its over and out from me
since you see this as nothing was done wrong , why don’t you go volunteer for the next thing that happens in this class room.this poor cat betrayed by his owner because he had a sick and twisted fantasy to do this with children. i hope parents press charges on him for emotional distressed he cause to the children.he is not a vet and hopefully he will not be a teacher soon either
Leah, I understand what you are saying but…
PoC has 90% nice stuff. It has to have some aspects of the real world on it too.
If it is all nice and fluffy it looks like nice and fluffy is normal and it isn’t because in the world there is a lot of animal cruelty and abuse and neglect etc..
We have to face these realities. We can’t fix them directly but we can write about them and expose them.
Then at least more people are aware of these issues. Airing them is the first step in fixing things.
All the discussion about declawing on PoC, which is far worse than this story helps to stop it.
I hope you understand my point of view.
Please don’t blame Elisa because I approve all the stories before publishing. If there is blame it should directed at me.
This is a very big story in the U.S. right now. There are three types of articles. Breaking news-has a 48 hour window from the time news media picks it up. Everygreen-informative such as health issues. Misc-everything else. If I had first heard of the animal identified as a cat at a time Michael wouldn’t normally have been online this wouldn’t have been a PoC article. I try to get him breaking news. PoC was one of the top 5 sites in the world to report on this being a cat. This article meant new readers and any website has to constantly recruit new people to the site and then hold their interest. Society itself is morbid these days. From now on I’ll add a graphic warning but I’ll continue to send Michael any article that will attract new readers. I do happy stories here too and I have another one in the works.
Elisa. I have replied to Leah and supported your article. Just so you know. We have to do some real hard news stories because we live in the real world. We can’t just do, what I call, fluffy pink stuff. Also this is an unusual story. It is a first. It is definitely worth publishing. And the, as you say, we have to keep PoC alive and fresh.
I do like her idea of adding a warning to articles like this. It will also draw in readers who for lack of a better word “get off” on sex and violence while warning those who get easily upset not to read it.
I’ve been asked to write for a site that has only happy news. I can’t do it because I’m an investigative reporter. The word “investigation” in itself means something bad has happened.
People should be happy you leave comments on a post. There’s very little freedom of speech on controlled websites.
Almost all cat news is about bad news in some form or other. There are some good stories but many less than the bad. It is the old problem. Bad news is good news. The same applies to news stories about people.
I am not sure we can do a warning. To be honest I don’t think this story is that bad. There are far worse and declawing which is legal and which happens millions of times a year is worse.
Title (GRAPHIC)
Well if we can’t do a warning then just make it so that the title doesn’t blurt out the body of the story perhaps?
But the title has to blurt out because that’s what gets it shown on the Google rankings. That spells success or failure of a website as in how close to the top of Google rankings an article can get because people won’t look past the first few on the list.
It was the teacher’s cat? Makes me wonder how many of his pets he has personally castrated before this.
Now that is a very smart point. I’d bet he has done it before.
Ughhhh….WTH…..I hope this cat does not have to spend his life with that man. Poor kitty.
_By all means__Animal cruelty charges need to be filed right away. This was wrong and I do not understand why it was condoned or whose idea it was in the first place?
A sideshow form of cruelty at the expense of the poor defenceless cat. Might as well invite Dr. Joseph Mengele to the next science class for human dissections _
I am going to guess and say that the instructor said that male cats recover very fast from castration etc. etc. and decided to do it in class. That was an extraordinary decision. Bizarre decision. The instructor (teacher) is the criminal if the allegations are proved.
Of course there should be charges laid … the fact they did that was disgusting enough!! What type of vet would allow that type of operation without anesthesia? This sick, sadistic douche bag is NOT even a proper vet I take it but .. a god damn teacher. Since when are teachers .. let alone high school students allowed to perform this type of thing on a live animal unless they are licensed to do so??? Resigned .. who cares if this A-hole resigned. He needs charges brought against him!!! ACTUALLY … MAYBE … HE OUGHT TO HAVE THE SAME DONE TO HIM!!!! Without anesthesia …. see if he enjoys it happening to him!!! I for one would love to cut his balls off .. only thing is. I WOULD NOT STOP at just those!!!!
Charges should be laid. They won’t! This is because kids where the perpetrators and a cat was the victim.
Now if a cat had attacked a kid (even in defence but looking as if it was unprovoked), that would have resulted in death for the cat.