Teacher accused of ‘feeding live puppy to snapping turtle’ in front of students

A science teacher has been charged with animal cruelty following claims that he fed a sick puppy to a snapping turtle in front of his students.

Robert Crosland, who kept exotic animals in a tank in his biology class at Preston Junior High School, in Idaho, could be jailed for up to six months and fined up to $5,000 (£3,700) if convicted, the BBC reports.

Following the alleged incident, in March, the Idaho Department of Agriculture euthanised the snapping turtle, because it is considered to be an invasive species.

“Unconfirmed details about the incident spread rapidly while school and law enforcement officials in the southeast Idaho community declined to identify the teacher or discuss what occurred, other than to say it was ‘regrettable’, involved animal specimens and happened after school,” reports the Idaho Statesman.

The newspaper adds: “People around the country were outraged when word spread that Crosland had fed a live puppy to a turtle in front of students.” Several online petitions calling for Crosland to be fired were launched, one of which has been signed by more than 190,000 people.

Joy Christensen, chairwoman of the Preston School Board, told the Statesman that the board would not make any decisions about Crosland until after the criminal investigation had concluded.