One high school decided to take end-of-year prom entertainment to a whole new — and very cruel — level. At the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Miami Airport and Convention Center, students gawked and screamed as a tiger was wheeled across the dance floor in a small cage.
While the theme for Christopher Columbus High School prom was ‘welcome to the jungle’, the use of exotic animals for entertainment is brutally cruel.
Maria Castellanos, a parent, criticized the “surprise entertainment,” sharing her concerns for the safety of students as well as the tiger.
Castellanos said, “the reason [the tiger] is pacing up and down and his ears [are] going back is because he is showing you distress.”
The school initially dismissed all criticism by claiming that “the tiger, which was displayed for a few minutes in a cage, was never harmed or in danger, was not forced to perform, was always accompanied by his handlers, and for the great majority of the time, was laying down in a relaxed state, facing away from the audience.”
However, the footage suggests otherwise. The video, obtained by Local 10, shows the tiger pacing restlessly from corner to corner in its small cage as performers dance with fire sticks.
As rightly said by Castellanos, “animals are not entertainment.”
The school also “entertained” prom-goers with two macaws, a lemur and an African fennec fox.
“The saddest part of it all is teaching the children that there is no merit to the life of that animal — that that animal doesn’t deserve any better,” Castellanos said.
The animals at Christopher Columbus school prom were treated as if they were no more than decoration. This perception of animals is outdated and suggests that animals deserve no more respect than objects to be exploited for our own amusement.
Sadly, there are around 5,000 tigers living in captivity in the US, which is more than all wild tiger populations across Asia. More often than not, tigers are ‘stored’ in cramped conditions with neither the respect or care they deserve.
David Pugh, the high school’s principal, has since released a statement on the school website apologizing for the “decision to have had live animals at our prom.”
Pugh continues to say “we can assure the Columbus community and all who have expressed concern that we are sorry. We have learned a great deal from this experience.”
We hope other schools are listening, and will keep animal cruelty away from school events.
Shocking attitude, especially in a school where people are expected to be educated. A caged animal is no untertainment. Just imagine yourself ……
It is a coward attitude too. You should be impressed by such natural beauties instead of trying to dominate them by keeping thm caged.
Stupid is stupud does!
What the hell were they thinking?
COMMENT
What is going on with the leaders of our children? They should be teaching children compassion and respect for all living creatures.
Terrible!
How stupid can this be and we have them teaching out kids!!!
This school board needs to be fined and all teachers involved penalized for this vile animal abuse. This poor tiger caged and terrified, needs to be released to a sanctuary where it will finally have some peace in its life. Damn sick behaviour by humans who should by now know better.
PETITION should be leaded to this fact to EDUCATE new generation to RESPECT ALL ANIMALS!!!!
The school board needs to be fined, the teachers need to be penalized/suspended, and everyone needs to have the Humane Society come and teach them common sense followed by a test and they have to pass with 85% or they fail and must sit through more lessons on animal cruelty and abuse and test again until they get it right!
There is absolutely NO EXCUSE for behavior like this. NONE.
It is really sad that animals are used for things like this,their not supposed to be trapped in cages and put in front of people for ythem to hwave a good time it’s not fun to animals it’s more like abuse. I hope the word can start getting out to everyone that animals don’t deserve this and they do not like it. So everyone Please STOP putting them through this kind of stress
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What is wrong with people it just seems that animals have no rights no freedom no love no homes there abused or skinned or burned alive to eat or for amusement and fights and racing so there is no justice for any animal all I read now is how people torture these creatures and now its getting into the school systems and teaching kids that abuse is ok to do to them so will they get justice they all deserve or will abuse continue as all who fight and keep fighting for them to all be free from abuse and horrible torture they still continue to abuse and the law sucks in defending these animals but it’s all abuse and cruelty now they suffer they cannot speak for the pain they all feel but humans are the worst and nobody cares what happens to these animals or themselves for that fact so we we who want abuse to stop we continue to fight and end all cruelty so all animals can live in love not for human fun this is real these animals feel pain they love they please they stay loyal to humans and even save your life so please we need to continue and fight for all animals and let them live a life of love and happiness they deserve better then what they go through so fight and set them free do it for them
How STUPID can this world be.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME. HOW STUPID CAN THESE SO CALLED ADULTS BE. THE KIDS ARE JUST AS BAD. THIS WORLD NEEDS HELP.
Stupidity is the norm. We know better. We can do better.
We cannot glimpse the essential life of a caged animal, only the shadow of its former beauty.
We are WELL INTO the 21st century and should know MUCH BETTER!!! We know that animals are cognitive, very intelligent beings and are worthy of the Respect, Mercy & Compassion that Christ taught us while on this Earth!!! GOD HELP US IF we can’t treat living beings as we would like to be treated ourselves!!! This commandment includes animals-NOT just Humans-for we know that Christ likens HIS love for us as a Hen to it’s Chick and that HE IS the LAMB of GOD, The DOVE of Peace! GOD loves and cares for even the smallest of sparrows-so we should too!!!! Tigers are ENDANGERED! They are Nocturnal and VERY elusive, private cats! Schools have a responsibility to TEACH children to RESPECT Nature, ecosystems and TEACH them the importance of every species within those systems! How we NEED them to have a healthy, balanced planet!!! Also Lemurs are ENDANGERED and there are thousands of people ALL over the World that are trying to help them survive and also STOP wildlife trafficking!!! Which this Principal should know is the 5th largest crime in the World and helps fuel terrorists, drug, gun and human trafficking!!!! SHAMEFUL act of IGNORANCE!!! Seems like the Staff needs to GET MORE EDUCATED!!!!!!!!!!
This is animal abuse and should NEVER happen again. I am not an animall expert and could clearly see the tigier was distressed by it’s pacing back and forth. The adults in the schools need to do better!
What were the school authorities thinking? Wild animals do not exist for our entertainment. A caged wild animal is busha (shameful). All wild animals who are prisoners at our zoos and in homes should be sent to sanctuaries where they can live with their own kind and be relatively free. A pox upon all those who thought bringing a caged tiger to an event.
Please start petition to fire that principle and whoever came up this horrible idea.
yes fire that principal at once, & make a petition to sign
The school principal should be fired!
When I heard how the superintendent lie about how well this tiger and the other animals did, I wanted to throw him in a cage with his worst nightmares taking place under the same conditions. I can say with total confidence he would sue!! The tiger, birds, and other animals were terrorized. Anyone involved in this horrific act need to face charges as well as lose their jobs. Plus the moron who rented the animals needs to have his business closed and a get the animals to safe sanctuaries.
In this day and age when PETA and other animal welfare based groups are in the forefront of the media striving for humane treatment of animals, how the hell did this happen? Live exotic animals at a prom? Unless the prom organizers have been living under a rock or in a house with no TV or internet access, they had to have known using a tiger would attract negative attention and be commended by millions of animal lovers across the globe. The principle of the school claims he didn’t know about the animals, that’s Bullshit. He is in charge of the whole damn school and prom is a major event. FIRE the principle immediately and put the teachers/organizers on unpaid administrative leave until this case is investigated further. Stop the insanity people – animals are not ours to parade around in cages for a few bucks. Those days are coming to a end. More and more people are becoming enlightened that animals should have rights and not be misused as party props. I hope the USDA takes away the license of the outfit who owns the animals and the animals are released to accredited sanctuaries where they can be free from all forms of abuse and live a more nature life.
mental sickness + greed = DEADLY combination for all alive
So shamefully wrong
From FLORIDA, just like the “teacher” who drowned the raccoons with the help of his students. Hillbillies.
Respectfully agree, Cindy. Those Florida school officials seem to have the brains of a flea and I just wish idiots would leave these poor animals alone and in their own habitats. They have feelings of sadness, loneliness, happiness, etc. as do humans but they just can’t articulate in a way many humans would understand. So, therefore, it gives these so-called humans the right to abuse them mentally and physically. NO! This is totally wrong but I’m not so sure these hillbillies know the difference.
……and these people are teaching our children. Scary!
STUPiD GIRL!!! SO IGNORANT and SELFISH and JUST PLAIN MORON!!!!
Absolutely bazaar ! As if hyped up, excited, hormone driven teens need a caged animal to add to their important evening. Poor animal! Wonder who the the animal belongs to, and why they would agree to such a cruel event. The owner and the school should be held accountable to such abusive behaviour .
Fire the principal. The buck stopped at him and he thought he could get away with it. He shouldn’t be in charge of children.
This is horrific animal abuse, just to keep this animal in a cage, much less during a prom. What is wrong with young adults ? What have their parents taught them about compassion, especially for animals. This is extreme cruelty to animals
A carnival dunking of the staff members during the duration of the prom by all of the students would have been the best entertainment.
Why should they put an animal for entertainment?They should put a HUMAN INSTEAD FOR ENTERTAINMENT!!!THAT IS REALLY FUN!!!!SHAME ON YOU ,EDUCATORS and STUDENTS!!!??????????????????
Is there a petition to sign, perhaps for schools – at least this Florida school while the heat is on it, to pledge to not use animals at school functions ever again? They must have known the jig was up to have lied about how the tiger behaved.
So sad.
Anti-education on numerous levels, desensitizing and disrespectful to both people and animal, and at the expense of animals, at such a time as this, while our numbers are growing and theirs is decreasing, and while the Senator King Farm Bill would strip what few protections are covered for animals.
Free the tiger, the tiger need to live in the wild . This is so cruel what the high school did to the tiger. They need a lot of teaching on compassion care and understanding on animals welfare and life. Shame on everyone involved !
The school staff members responsible for such a cruel act should be the ones caged to entertain the students.
What on earth was the school thinking of or was it engaging its brains at all? I am glad that I have no children attending this school as clearly it has no ethics, morals or intelligence to encourage the use of captive animals in this way! It is not enough to merely apologise – it needs to consider what message has been given to the students and ensure that this is is replaced with one of respect for other living beings. The staff of the school responsible should be ashamed! ?
The responsible staff members should also be fired because they demonstrated total lack of responsibility.
Schools should be for education and learning ,this school exercised none of these Shame on them
This is a wild animal, the children and school should all be ashamed of themselves for putting this magnificent creature in a cage for their amusement, they should know better!
It is so easy to do something and them act all shame faced later and say and a mistake was made. People need to think long term instead of always in the short, which has become the norm for so many. Today’s consequences can have a long reaching arm into tomorrow.
There should be an immediate investigation and charges brought against the lot!
It is time people, and especially the younger generation learnt that actions have consequences!!
TOTALLY AGREE‼️???????
The mistake was made when such school staff members who were involved in such behavior were hired.
This is unacceptable. That tiger was a great deal of disress. The macaws, lemur and fennec fox were probably just as distressed as the tiger. How stupid can you be.
They need to put the people in the cage, who put the tiger in the cage for entertainment, and see how much they like it. Then they need to put the cage of people in a room full of tigers and see how comfortable they feel then.
Put all the teachers and Principal in a cage and see how they like it.
The obsession with having wild animals in any form in America, has been a long slow road. When will it ever end??
The girls screaming (as they do) must have terrified the poor animal. Just horrifies me.
Put the administrator in a cage for a day, and place him where the public can gawk at him. Oh yes, dress him like an ass.
That’s the best idea.