Recently, a news story broke detailing the events of an overnight fire that broke out at Bedford County Middle School in Virginia. Upon entering the school, firefighters responding to the emergency were forced to encounter an unexpected obstacle in addition to quickly initiating disaster-response protocol: an eight-foot-long python used as a classroom pet.
When the first responders arrived at the scene, they discovered water flowing from the second floor, visible flames, and smoke coming from windows. Luckily, the crew was able to safely secure the python, named Nanner, in a temporary holding area before extinguishing the fire. Nanner’s owner, a life science teacher whose classroom caught fire, later arrived and returned her to the enclosure.
Cause of Fire that Led to Death of Tortoise Under Investigation
While the Bedford County fire investigator is still determining the cause of the fire, the Fire Marshal’s Office believes the fire was started after Nanner escaped her cage and knocked over a heat lamp. In a desperate act to flee the cage to escape the flames, both metal locks on Nanner’s enclosure had been bent, stretched, and eventually forced off. If Nanner had not been able to break out of the cage, she would have died in the fire, with no opportunity to escape burning to her death.
Not everyone in the classroom was as lucky as Nanner; another classroom pet, a tortoise named Bowser, sadly died in the fire, and a tank next to Nanner’s cage melted completely. All other surviving animals have since been removed from the school and are staying with the teacher while being monitored for respiratory problems.
Perhaps most disturbing are the teacher’s comments following the tragic incident: “I am devastated for many reasons right now — all of my teaching tools are now gone, many children will now not have the opportunities that many others have had, 18 years of teaching material is gone. I never wanted this for my school, my admin, or my county.” Referring to her classroom pets as “teaching tools” is a sad and highly disrespectful manner to refer to live animals, who have demonstrated the capacity to experience a wide range of emotions and sensations similar to humans, including fear and pain.
Research Shows Exotic Classroom Pets Teach Students the Wrong Things
Despite many schoolteachers’ beliefs otherwise, research confirms that exotic classroom pets do not teach children the intended values of compassion, empathy, or responsibility. Instead, they teach children that removing a wild animal from their natural environment is not only acceptable, but encouraged, for the selfish, human-centered act of “learning,” when the same could be done with virtual materials. Many popular classroom pets, including most reptiles, can live for several decades, have extremely complicated health, dietary, behavioral, and social needs that cannot be replicated in captivity, and are not conducive to the overstimulating environment of a children’s classroom.
Animals in classrooms experience improper accommodation, lack appropriate mental/physical stimulation, and suffer from high stress levels, unnoticed diseases and injuries, and abuse and/or neglect. As demonstrated by the incident at Bedford County Middle School, keeping wild animals in unnaturally restrictive, artificial environments can pose a real danger to themselves, other animals, the surrounding environment, and humans.
How Born Free USA Works to Stop Animal Suffering in Schools
To help reduce the use of exotic animals in classrooms across the country, we developed an entirely free virtual classroom adoption program, featuring a real monkey from the Born Free USA Primate Sanctuary named Freeman. The program tells Freeman’s story, who was kept as a pet in a basement for several years before his rescue, through several chapters with activities and discussion questions to teach children about wildlife conservation, animal welfare, and protecting the natural environment.
Access the program here to help us get closer to a future that no longer forces undeserving wild animals to suffer in classrooms under the false pretense of “education.”
For the Animals,
Dear Reader,