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Fury at 'Python Eating Bunny' classroom demonstration
Whether an after-school activity was an educational lesson or a disturbing demonstration is being debated at a Westside school where a group of students watched as a python devoured a bunny.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla.
Cameras rolled inside a Trinity Christian Academy as a python struck, killed and ate a rabbit in a classroom crowded with students.
The video was posted on YouTube.com, showing the supervised demonstration at the school with students wearing miniature, fake snakes around their necks.
After placing a large python on floor, a man removes a rabbit from a cage and baits it for the snake, moving it from side to side and then releasing it seconds before the snake strikes out at the smaller animal.
"This was the biology teacher, and he asked the kids if they wanted to see it. Everyone said yes, the kid brought in the snake and they did it. There was nothing wrong with it," said student Brittney Brown.
Some Trinity parents said they were disgusted after viewing the footage, and they let the administration know.
According to the school's administrator, several angry e-mails came into the school about the video.
However, some argue that what the students witnessed in the school's classroom was just nature at work.
"It might be something uncomfortable for people to watch, particularly animal lovers. However this is a natural phenomenon. The way the animal ate is completely normal," said Kristen Key of Jacksonville Animal Care and Control.
Key said there is abolutely nothing criminal going on in the video and that Animal Care and Control would not be pressing charges.
"There is nothing illegal we can tell from what we've seen. It's not illegal to own a python in Florida," Key said.
Legalities aside, some are questioning why students would watch the graphic demonstration.
"This is something that we are just beginning to become aware of," said Trinity Christian administrator Clayton Lindstam.
The administrator said he has not yet seen the video.
He said he knows some details about the classroom demonstration but because graduation was coming up, he would wait until Friday to begin an investigation.
"We have an incident after school, and I'm going to find out about it," Lindstam said.
He has called a school meeting to talk about what happened, but students who saw the python told Channel 4 they didn't have a problem with watching the feeding.
"No one felt threaten by it," said student Korey Stevenson. "It was pretty much, 'Hey, this is going to happen if you want to be there.' More people showed up than they thought would. Anyone who felt threatened by it left."
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