Recently, a middle school teacher took to an online forum to share her grief after two students dumped soap into classroom fish tanks, killing 11 baby fish and seriously injuring two larger fish and two frogs. The students’ only consequence was to apologize.

Other educators weighed in with their own stories about animals who were victims of cruel acts by students, including newborn bunnies targeted with basketballs and a baby mouse and baby birds who were stomped to death. Unfortunately, these incidents are far from isolated.

TeachKind, PETA’s humane education division, regularly receives reports about animals suffering and dying in classrooms. In Kansas, a rabbit was killed when a student pulled off his tail. Five juveniles tortured a hamster to death at a prep school in California. A Virginia student became upset and killed a classroom gerbil. In Chicago, a bird and a gerbil left alone over spring break perished from neglect. At a single school in Tampa, nine gerbils died after they were deprived of food and water for more than two weeks, finches passed away from exposure and a ball python froze to death. Those are only a few of the cases that have come to light—most do not.

Having been an elementary teacher in the Bronx for many years, I know that educators are always looking for ways to keep students interested and engaged. Some may be swayed by pet stores that market small animals as cheap, easy “starter pets.” But the smaller size of guinea pigs, hamsters, gerbils, rabbits, chinchillas, birds, mice, fish and other animals doesn’t make them easier to care for than dogs or cats. These animals are often highly sensitive to germs and bacteria, more prone to illness and injury and in need of specialized veterinary care that can be expensive and hard to find.

For example, rabbits and rodents are skittish prey animals, and many do not enjoy being picked up and held. They also mask pain and sickness and may not show any signs of distress until an illness is advanced, so they must be consistently monitored for even small changes in behavior. Hermit crabs require carefully controlled habitats that include high humidity; deep, damp sand; fresh water and saltwater; extra shells of many sizes and more. Mice and other small mammals are nocturnal and must sleep during the day. When kept in brightly lit, noisy classrooms, their natural sleep rhythms are disrupted and their health deteriorates. Even a routine checkup with an exotic veterinarian can start at around $100 per animal, and educators are often left holding the bill.

On weekends and during breaks, animals kept in classrooms frequently go without care or are sent to unscreened homes with people who may not know how to meet their needs. Many have been lost, injured or killed by the family’s dog or cat. They are commonly left behind—alone and terrified—during loud fire and evacuation drills, and classes typically don’t make a plan to save them in an actual emergency. Exposing children to animals means potentially exposing them also to allergy attacks, bacteria such as salmonella and other zoonotic pathogens or painful bites or scratches.

Small animals are delicate, unique individuals, not science experiments or lessons in responsibility. But there are countless fun, captivating teaching tools that don’t put anyone at risk.

My students loved caring for class plants or school gardens. Kids can even grow their own fruits and vegetables to eat or donate to food banks. Some of my classes chose to “adopt” animals at accredited sanctuaries, and we also visited natural history museums and explored botanical gardens. Older students can volunteer for community service projects such as cleaning up parks or waterways or helping out at a local animal shelter. Wildlife documentaries can help kids learn fascinating facts about animals all over the world. And TeachKind offers schools free Ratty the Rat plush animals that come with activity guides.

Forgoing classroom “pets” in favor of humane activities helps impart one of the most important lessons of all: that everyone, even the smallest among us, deserves respect and consideration.

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Lisbet Chiriboga, M.S. Ed., is a former elementary educator and the senior program manager at TeachKind, the humane education division of PETA, 501 Front St., Norfolk, VA 23510; TeachKind.org.

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