Target: Ken Paxton, Attorney General of Texas
A deeply troubling incident has emerged from Palestine, Texas, involving a reported case of animal cruelty during an agricultural animal science class. Emily Marie Benner, an agriculture teacher at Westwood Independent School District, has been accused of instructing her students to perform a painful procedure on a live cat. The cat, awake and resisting, was reportedly laid on a table while the students stapled its incision under Benner’s guidance, an act apparently captured in a graphic video obtained by CBS19.
The video, which has since caused widespread outrage, allegedly shows the teacher directing her students to grab the cat and hold it down. Despite the animal’s apparent distress, the procedure reportedly continued, culminating in cheers from the classroom. The cat, fortunately, survived and is currently under the care of a local veterinarian. Still, the trauma inflicted during the incident has raised serious concerns about animal welfare and ethical practices in educational settings.
The alleged actions of Emily Marie Benner in this incident call for a thorough investigation and strict legal action. The Anderson County District Attorney must pursue this case with the full weight of the law to ensure that such incidents are not repeated. The reported behavior constitutes a grave violation of ethical standards and sets a dangerous precedent if left unaddressed. Holding those allegedly responsible accountable will reinforce the importance of humane animal treatment and uphold our educational institutions’ integrity.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear AG Paxton,
I am writing to express my grave concern regarding the recent incident involving Emily Marie Benner, an agriculture teacher at Westwood Independent School District, who has been charged with animal cruelty. According to reports and a graphic video obtained by CBS19, Ms. Benner allegedly instructed her students to perform a painful procedure on a live cat during an agricultural animal science class. The video reportedly shows the cat, awake and resisting, being held down and stapled by the students under the teacher’s guidance.
The distressing footage, which ends with cheers from the classroom, suggests a blatant disregard for the animal’s welfare. Although the cat is currently under veterinary care, the trauma and suffering inflicted during this reported incident highlight a serious lapse in judgment and a violation of ethical standards. Such actions, if proven true, are cruel and deeply inappropriate in an educational environment.
I urge you to take immediate and decisive legal action against Emily Marie Benner to ensure accountability for her alleged actions. This case must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law to prevent any similar occurrences and reaffirm our commitment to humanely treating animals. By holding those allegedly responsible accountable, we can protect both animals and our community’s educational standards.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo credit: Krysten Merriman
This maniac should not be allowed to teach children or to own an animal ever again!
So in South Carolina teachers are teaching children how to torture cats and to show a complete indifference to life and suffering and cruelty? Way to go SC, pretty soon you’ll just be Texas. She should be fired, period, no excuses.
So if this happened in Palenstine, TX why is the petition for South Carolina. Regardless this teacher is clearly a danger to students. She should not only be arrested for cruelty but her teaching license revoked and charged with endangering minors. This is mental and emotional abuse to any children in that class that love animals.
/THis is the end of the line for this teacher. She is obviously mental and as such needs to be placed in a mental institution for years. It will take that long, if ever, for her to be a responsible person. To show her how her actions hurt the cat, staple her!!! Why not? People can be total idiots and she obviously is.
There is no reason for her actions and absolutely no excuse. I would wave all investigations as she is guilty and so many can testify to that fact. She showed no mercy and should to be shown mercy. She did this and may have set another mind astray by having kids do this to an innocent cat teaching to do as you wish but not to anyone who can fight back! The law isn’t strong enough to repay this lady for her abuse. Only Karma can do that!
This ‘teacher’ is clearly deranged, depraved and psychotically unstable. Make sure she gets appropriate treatment and is NEVER allowed to teach again or own any animals for the rest of her pathetic life.
Aren’t animals – and people – suppose to be under a sleeping agent during surgery? WTAF? This ‘teacher’ needs to have her eyelids and lips stapled shut.
What’s the full story? Was the cat being neutered in an ag science class? How is the procedure normally performed? Do veterinarians normally perform this procedure without anesthesia and the only reason we’re hearing about this is because someone videotaped it? WHAT’S THE FULL STORY HERE?
This is unacceptable behaviour by the teacher as well as the students! I feel these kids, teens or children should be taken aside and have someone explain to them why this is incomprehensible so these young people look at the situation as wrong and painful to any living being. If this is true of the teacher, she should be fired from her position and punished.
Lilypearl
Perhaps this is what happens in the back room at your vet’s office whenever you take your cat in for any minor surgical procedure involving an incision, Alice. The last time I took my cat in (for a puncture wound on his paw after a fight with the cat across the street) I paid for the anesthesia, but what stood out to me was that the anesthesia was presented to me as an option since it was expensive. Maybe Frank’s right. Perhaps the story is that this lady should have to live under a bridge for the rest of her life, or perhaps the story is that this is normal and you’d call for half the vets in the U.S. losing their jobs. I can’t tell from the video and the pathetically lame and incomplete typical rile-em-up-clickbait “news coverage” about it.
This teacher needs to begin prison not school. The teacher has no intelligence nor compassion. Both are valuable assets in teaching. To staple some form of life is agony. I say, staple the teacher and allow them to see how much it hurts. Do people not realize how hurtful what they do is and what they say is, as well. I can’t fathom how removed this teacher is from reality. This is a case for evaluation to see if this person is sane. The teacher’s action point to insanity. Fire the teacher and have them mentally evaluated. But, they may not continue to teach.