Teacher Allegedly Fed Puppy to Turtle as Students Watched

Students in Preson, Idaho, were reportedly subjected to a disturbing scene last week when a teacher allegedly fed a puppy to one of his reptiles as the children looked on. A local animal activist filed a police report after hearing about the after-school incident, in which Preston Junior High science teacher Robert Crosland allegedly fed a sick puppy to either a snake or a snapping turtle, Fox 13 reports. Per the Idaho Statesman, rumors are circulating on social media that the puppy was fed to the turtle, but those rumors have not been officially confirmed. The Franklin County Sheriff's Department and the school district are both investigating the incident; the sheriff says his department's findings will be turned over to the local prosecutor to "determine if the law has been broken."

While the animal activist calls the incident "disgusting," "sick," and "violence," some students and parents have said they were not upset by the incident because the puppy was apparently "deformed" and "going to die anyway." They say Crosland was just trying to illustrate the "circle of life"; one parent calls him "the best science teacher Preston Junior High has." In a statement, the Preston School District calls the incident "regrettable" but assures parents it "occurred well after students had been dismissed and was not a part of any school directed program." The statement says steps will be taken to ensure such a thing doesn't happen again, but that "we hope that any errors in judgement made by a teacher in this instance will not cause us to forget the years of care, effort, and passion the teacher has given to students in Preston School District." (More strange stuff stories.)