6th-grader kills ducks with a pencil
WICHITA, Kansas (AP) -- A sixth-grade boy has admitted he stabbed to death a mother duck named "Lucy" and her two ducklings.If the boy truly didn't understand why it was wrong to kill the ducks, I'd like to know what his parents are like. Were they negligent in their responsibilities as parents, and should they be charged with the fines and jail time mentioned in the article?
Students at Wilbur Middle School had been monitoring the mother duck and ducklings, making sure no one disturbed the nest in a grassy creek bed. Their lifeless, mutilated bodies were found this week, stabbed with a pencil.
An announcement over the school's public address system brought the sixth-grade boy's admission that he killed the mother duck, whom students had named Lucy, and the two ducklings. School officials said he had talked about the act to classmates and did not understand why it was wrong.
posted by Amy at 10:33 AM
6 Comments:
Very disturbing that this child shows no empathy. A child's formation of conscience begins much earlier than sixth grade but is on-going. I do believe that someone needs to look to his parents to figure out what's missing in this boy. Maybe it IS his parents. I'm not sure about jail time but fines and a mandated mental health evaluation seem in order.
Another question: Does an incident like this point to a greater need for more bird clubs to visit schools and encourage respect for nature?
What a nightmare! I hope the child gets the help he so clearly needs. I feel so badly for all the other children.
I agree with Lynne about the mandated health evaluation. I'd think some community service -- very well supervised -- working with animals might be in order too. Killing animals is a clear sign of sociopathy. What a horrible, horrible situation.
I was horrified to read this. I heart goes out to who ever found them. I hope it was not a fellow student. This is surely very disturbing to the class. I agree that he needs help immediately. But, I do not believe that he did not know it was wrong--even small children know this. I agree with Liza Lee, killing animals is not a good sign. I am not sure that a school visit by a bird club would have helped in this case.
Look back at the early childhood of most serial killers, and you find animal cruelty.
Damn skippy bird clubs need to go to more schools.
I have seen that most people are ignorant of the law protecting birds of prey and migratory birds. But you don't need to know that to realize that stabbing a duck is wrong.
Mandatory mental health assessment, yes.
More exposure to nature and lessons on how to respect it, yes.
Blame the parents, maybe not. Could you see or even imagine that kind of behavior in your own child? I doubt it.
This cruel child AND his parents should be required to do community service for years at a local animal shelter, to teach ALL of them compassion. A child who can kill an animal without remorse can also kill a person.
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