A teacher in Ocala, Florida was placed on administrative leave Monday after allegedly drowning two raccoons and an opossum with the help of students in an agricultural science class.
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CBS affiliate WKMG published a 14-second video showing a group of students in teacher Dewie Brewton's class at Forest High School crowded around a raccoon, which had been caught in wire traps, submerged in a trashcan filled with water.
"That one's, like, super, super small," one girl is heard saying in the video. "That one probably didn't do anything."
As someone held the raccoon underwater, another used a hose to fill up the trashcan.
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“Dump that water in there,” a boy said.
According to WKMG, the animals were suspected of killing a chicken his students were raising at the school.
“The raccoons tried to come up for air. (The teacher and students) had metal rods and they held them down with metal rods and when the raccoon would try to pop its head up they held water hoses in its face to drown it,” the mother of one student told WKMG.
It's unclear if the incident actually involved criminal acts, but live-captured "nuisance wildlife" is required to be legally released (live traps in certain areas are permitted) or "euthanized humanely within 24 hours of capture," the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's website states. Drowning is listed as an unacceptable primary method of euthanasia, according to the Report of the American Veterinary Medical Association Panel on Euthanasia, which the agency recommends for guidance.
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Law enforcement with the agency and the Florida Department of Health are further investigating.
"Marion County Public Schools is appalled at the actions of an agri-science teacher accused of killing nuisance animals in front of students earlier this week," the school district wrote in a statement. "While law enforcement determines whether this teacher's actions were legal or not, his actions before students are entirely unacceptable and cause us great concern."
On Tuesday, members of the Forest High School FFA Alumni Chapter took to Facebook to defend Brewton and criticized the media for “escalat[ing]” the incident “to lengths that are unnecessary.”
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“We would like to say that we are 100% behind our advisor and everything he does for our children/students. This is a man who would give everything he had to make sure that his children/students are taken care of,” the chapter wrote.
As the story spread online, Brewton has received significant backlash, calling his acts cruel and violent.
"My son joined ag science, because he loves animals not to torture them," a parent told Fox 35.
But others, who commented on the chapter's post, said such acts were necessary to keep livestock alive, the Washington Post reported.
“This man’s reputation and livelihood are threatened by those who know nothing about the ag business,” one commenter wrote. “Raccoons are not cute little furry creatures. They are very destructive and dangerous. They can be rabid and you can be overrun with them in a short time.”
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