A Florida high school teacher has been suspended after he was accused of drowning raccoons in the classroom.
A teacher at Forest Hill School in Ocala, Florida, is facing termination from his position after a video of him drowning raccoons in front of his students was posted to the internet.
The teacher, Dewie Brewton, was captured on video drowning raccoons in a garbage bin in front of his students. A concerned mother reported the teacher to school officials.
“When the raccoons tried to come up for air, they 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,” one student’s mother told a local news station.
The mother argued that the teacher’s conduct was inappropriate and strange. “I don’t think that’s the way to treat any animal. Whether it is a raccoon or (another animal) you just don’t torture an animal and kill it like that. They should have trapped the animal and had somebody take them and relocate the animals,” another parent said in a comment.
In a statement, the Forest High School Future Farmers Club of America Alumni group defended Brewton, arguing that the teacher is a valuable member of the school community.
“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 student alumni group said. “He has always gone above and beyond his call of duty to ensure that his students had everything they needed. He has spent late nights, weekends and has provided around the clock support for his club and for his school.”
According to a Washington Post report, some community members have defended Brewton’s actions and argued that drowning raccoons in garbage bins serves to preserve farms and their livestock.