
For Immediate Release:
May 25, 2023
Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382
Marion County, Fla. â Following reports that police had charged a local teen with felony aggravated cruelty to animals after he shot his familyâs dog multiple times with a BB gunâwhile, as he admitted, she was âjust sitting on the porchââand posted a video of the assault on Snapchat, TeachKind, PETAâs humane education division, sent the superintendent of Marion County Public Schools an urgent letter today, along with kindness-to-animals curricula and Empathy Now, a guide to preventing violence by young people.
âWhen a young person riddles his familyâs dog with pellets in an apparent quest for social media notoriety, itâs clear how critical it is to be taught empathy from an early age,â says PETA Senior Director of Youth Programs Marta Holmberg. âCompassion can be cultivated, and TeachKind is on standby to help Marion County Public Schools teach its students that violence is wrong, whether the victim is a canine or a classmate.â
Sandy Hook Promise includes cruelty to animals on its â10 Critical Warning Signs of Violenceâ list, and research shows that approximately 43% of school shooters first committed acts of cruelty against animalsâso animal abusers potentially pose a serious threat to communities at large. TeachKind resources are easy to integrate into schoolsâ existing curricula to help prevent future violence.
TeachKindâwhose motto reads, in part, that âanimals are not ours to abuse in any wayââopposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. Its other free resources include a high school social justice curriculum (Challenging Assumptions) and the Share the World program kit for young children, both of which it is sending to Marion County Public Schools.
For more information, please visit TeachKind.org or follow the group on Facebook or Instagram.
Source: Peta.org