I cannot express my disbelief upon hearing the tales of execution this week.  All I can say is I am glad I’m not an animal living in these parts.  Hunters show no mercy towards any creature no matter how great or small!  You only have to glance along the highway to realise that the locals do not think twice about mowing down the wildlife.  You could pick up a rather large variety of road-kill, ranging from raccoons to deer!  On the other hand, in school the children are excited about looking after their classroom critters.  One group have some wonderfully painted hermit crabs and there’s another with a cute little floppy-eared bunny that jumps around the classroom floor.

With all the talk about animals in the staff-room and the kid’s interest in their pets it’s no surprises that every so often the parents like to bring in some new animals to keep the children entertained.  Mum was asked by a member of staff this week whether or not she had ever seen a beaver before.  She replied that she had but only swimming at a distance… so she was quite interested to go and have a look at the beaver that was brought into school.  With excitement she went down to one of the classrooms to be met with a quite unbelievable scene.

Amidst a circle of pointing children she spotted the big flat tail of a beaver. Upon closer inspection she was horrified to discover that it was plonked face-down in a bucket; with a bullet through its head!  The children couldn’t stop laughing apparently (I’m unsure whether this was due to her reaction or just at the dead beaver).  In any other place in the world, health and safety would be up in arms over bringing live animals into school, let alone bloody dead ones.