HUNTINGTON PARK, Calif. (AP) - A middle school teacher is accused of placing a rabbit in a plastic bag during a classroom experiment and then leaving the animal to die.
Godwin Collins Onunwah, 47, of Walnut, has been charged with animal cruelty and will be arraigned Dec. 18 in Huntington Park, which is about 10 miles south of Los Angeles. He faces up to a year in jail and a $20,000 fine if convicted of the misdemeanor crime.
Prosecutors said Onunwah, a teacher at Gage Middle School, had a student in his special education class bring the rabbit to school two months ago. He allegedly put the rabbit in a plastic bag, tied the bag shut and waited for the animal to die.
When the rabbit didn't die by the end of class, Onunwah allegedly put the bag in a closet and left for the weekend. He reportedly returned on Monday and found the rabbit dead and informed authorities to take it away.
Prosecutors and school district officials wouldn't comment on Onunwah's reasons for the unusual experiment gone bad. Gage principal Veronica Aragon added ''the district absolutely forbids the killing of animals.''
Animal rights activists were also shocked by the teacher's school lesson.
''The only thing worse than letting a child get away with an act of animal cruelty is actually teaching a child how to be cruel,'' said Madeline Bernstein, president of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Los Angeles. ''There is no excuse for this.''
The teacher was removed from the classroom and reassigned to the school district's main office, said Rita Davis, the district's director of school services.
''There's an ongoing investigation,'' she said. ''This is now a personnel matter.'' ---
On the Net:
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Los Angeles: http://www.spcala.com/
