John Jefferson
Main: a camera was rolling while a cat was held down and students were allegedly instructed on stapling an incision (KYTX). Right inset: Emily Benner (Anderson County Sheriff’s Office).
A high school agriculture teacher smiled in her mug shot and wore a “Teach Ag” T-shirt when booked over the weekend, two days after she was allegedly caught on video offering students a hands-on opportunity in the classroom to learn how to staple a wide awake and screaming cat’s incision.
The video, which was described by local CBS affiliate KYTX as showing that cat awake and resisting as it was held down by students, flipped over, and allegedly used as part of 25-year-old Emily Marie Benner’s agricultural animal science class lesson last Friday at Westwood High School, a public school in Palestine, Texas, on stapling the cat.
That incident led to a cruelty to non-livestock animals charge as of Sunday, when Benner was taken into custody and reacted with a smile an T-shirt with a message. Given the statement from Westwood ISD’s superintendent, the school had a markedly different response to the “deeply troubling incident,” which reportedly led the cat to be taken to a veterinarian.
“This procedure amounted to animal cruelty, and we want to make it absolutely clear that our district takes matters extremely seriously,” Wade Stanford told parents and students in a letter, local ABC affiliate KLTV reported. “We deeply regret the distress this incident has caused, particularly to our students who were involved or witnessed it.”
Though not immediately specifying what district will do in response to the “unacceptable occurrence,” the superintendent said “immediate and decisive action to address this issue” will be taken. As of Thursday, Benner has a “valid” certificate for teaching in Texas public schools, state records show.
Stanford added that the “behavior” in the video “is not in line with the values and standards we uphold[.]”
Anderson County Jail records reviewed by Law&Crime show that Benner, of Oakwood, was booked into jail on Sunday but that she was released the same day on a $7,500 bond. It’s unclear if she has an attorney, but there does appear to be at least one possible defense for her.
The statute applying to the treatment of domesticated animals, including feral cats, defines a “cruel manner” as causing or permitting “unjustified or unwarranted pain or suffering,” but there is also “a defense to prosecution under this section” — that the “actor was engaged in bona fide experimentation for scientific research.”
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