August 31, 2001

To the Editor,

While "getting away with murder" is sadly becoming a no surprise result of the judicial system, we cannot ever let such verdicts go without comment. Otherwise, we become complicit in allowing the guilty to go unpunished. The long-suffering, unnecessary death of a rabbit at the hands of a cruel and insensitive science teacher in a Los Angeles school is an outrage.

Godwin Collins Onunwah’s suffocation of an innocent rabbit under the guise of "education" for his dissection class should have been deemed an act of malicious cruelty and severely punished by our courts. By killing an innocent animal in this egregious way, Onunwah also assaulted the sensibilities of an entire class of innocent children forced to witness his callous and, quite frankly, stupid act.

Children who witness violence, whether directed at a human or non-human animal, are more likely to turn into perpetrators of violence themselves. Forcing children to watch such a violent act is not only violence against the actual victim but is also equally victimizing to the observers.

Thankfully, Onunwah’s school had the wisdom to not renew his appointment. However, we have no assurance that his barbaric approach to education will not be inadvertently welcomed at his next job.

Animal cruelty has been, is, and always will be a violent act that feeds many other forms of insensitivity and violence that we see every day, everywhere in our world. Citizens who are now or will be jurors must make ZERO TOLERANCE FOR VIOLENCE their most serious commitment.

Sincerely,

Theodora Capaldo, EdD
President
The Ethical Science and Education Coalition (ESEC)