A private high school in Florida has been forced to apologise after somebody in a position of power in the school allowed a caged tiger to be brought to prom over the weekend.
I mention the position of power thing because I just think it’s important to reflect on the fact that this was something responsible adults thought would be an okay thing to do.
The prom took place on Friday for Christopher Columbus High School in Miami, a private all-boys school whose theme for Prom was ‘Welcome to the Jungle’.
The prom reportedly featured other animals, including a fox, which the students were apparently able to hold.
But the centrepiece was the tiger, which was placed in the centre of the room during the performances – one of which included a fire dancer.
Obviously, the students at the school began placing their snaps from the night on social media, but rather than getting a few likes on insta or RTs on Twitter, they instead angered a hell of a lot of people.
Marie Christine Castellanos, whose brother shared footage of the night on Facebook, wrote:
How shameful for Christopher Columbus High School… showing its students on prom night who is the ‘king of the jungle’.
This poor tiger was used as an EXOTIC amusement for the mindless teenagers who were present, it is not the student [sic] fault to be so naive BUT it’s the CCHS STAFF who arranged this event, there for they are responsible for this tiger’s misery,..
She also told CBS4:
Tigers are wild animals. They don’t need to be displayed as objects for our amusements. They don’t like the fire, the cages, the music, the teenagers with the cameras. They didn’t ask for that, they don’t have voices.
Ron Magill, curator for Zoo Miami told the Miami Herald that he thinks the tiger was obviously in distress and was ‘clearly looking for a way to get out of that situation.
After the backlash to the event, Principal David Pugh apologised for allowing the idea to get approved.
He said:
As a school community, we regret the decision to have had live animals at our prom. This incident in no way reflects our school’s Marist values and/or accomplishments of our young men nor our sensitivity to animal rights.
We will immediately evaluate our current policies and procedures regarding all school activities and events. We can assure the Columbus community and all who have expressed concern, that we are sorry. We have learned a great deal from this experience.
But that didn’t stop people on social media from getting seriously p*ssed about what happened, calling out both the students and the faculty for what happened.
One Twitter user wrote:
Why the F*CK would you bring a caged tiger to prom… prom is not that f*cking serious.. Imagine how f*cking scared the animal was with all the flashing lights.. not to mention being in a f*cking cage.. I’m so f*cking tired of humans bruh… so disgusting…
2018 folks, this is still happening in 2018.
