Teacher dispatches raccoon with nail gun

(Reuters, Huntsville, AL) A Huntsville High School teacher killed a raccoon with a nail gun Friday after discovering the planned subject of a skinning demonstration was alive. Superintendent Alvin Lievsay said a student’s parent promised to bring in a raccoon for the exercise, but surprised teacher Jerick Hutchinson by bringing the animal in a live trap. Lievsay said Hutchinson, “who used to work in a slaughter house,” took the animal outside to the back of his truck and shot it with the nail gun. Lievsay said no students witnessed the raccoon’s death.

Mystech: I don’t even know where to start! Its like news-candy… Skinning demonstration at school?  Just happened to have a nail gun handy? Raccoon almost escape in an orange Dodge Charger with a Confederate flag painted on the top? Ok, well maybe not that last part but otherwise,  I couldn’t MAKE stuff up this good.

“He used the nail gun to, as they say, to dispatch the animal,” Lievsay said. “It wasn’t like he held a nail gun against the head of a cute little animal in front of the class.”

Hutchinson used the dead raccoon to demonstrate how to skin the animal and to examine the contents of its stomach. Lievsay said only one student asked not to attend the skinning.

Lievsay said school officials later talked with Hutchinson and told him animals would not be killed on school grounds. The superintendent said Hutchinson, one of two agriculture teachers at the school, also would provide more detailed lesson plans in the future.

“He does a great job. The kids love him,” Lievsay said.

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7 Responses

  1. Mike says:

    Ahh.. that’s the High School my wife graduated from.

    I don’t think she took the agriculture classes though.

  2. nighthob says:

    “The superintendent said Hutchinson, one of two agriculture teachers at the school, also would provide more detailed lesson plans in the future.”

    This was the line that cracked me up. It’s not a problem that the teacher took the coon behind the shed – I mean school – and ganked it with a nail gun or that he was teaching a lesson on how to skin animals. The problem is…he didn’t provide detailed lesson plans. It’s important to ensure that the students are being provided with measurable objectives in these lessons. The school wouldn’t want any of them failing their standardized skinning test this Spring.

    Next week: an exciting team teaching lesson with Home Ec on how to effectively reclaim road kill and what seasonings best cover that lingering asphalt taste.

  3. implementor says:

    Heh heh, we had a “Sportsman’s Club” in our high school, where the club sponsors would take the students deer hunting :).

  4. Mystech says:

    Sure, I can totally see a sportsman club or even a wilderness skills club… but a nail gun?

  5. implementor says:

    Most places prevent bringing firearms, knives, hatchets, etc. onto school grounds, so if a nail gun was available, it would be one of the few implements available to dispatch a raccoon.

  6. Mystech says:

    My mind is awash with the comedic possibilities… Nail Gun Ranges, Carpentry Conceal & Carry Permits, Teflon Coated 10 Penny Nails… 🙂

  7. implementor says:

    The NNA: National Nailgun Association…

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