Boys’ Horrific Cat Drowning Prompts PETA Campaign Urging Locals to Help Stop Animal Abuse
For Immediate Release:
September 23, 2025
Contact:
Sara Groves 202-483-7382
Following reports that two Benton County students allegedly filmed themselves drowning a terrified, caged cat in a muddy pool, TeachKind—PETA’s humane education division—is placing a sky-high message in Warsaw calling on residents to help stop youth violence against animals. TeachKind is also rushing humane education materials to Warsaw R-IX School District Superintendent Scott Gemes—including “Empathy Now,” a guide to preventing violence by young people—along with an urgent letter stressing the need for humane education that fosters empathy for all living, feeling beings.
The video of the attack includes disturbing audio of two juveniles—believed to be in eighth grade—expressing excitement as the cat struggles desperately to escape, before pulling the cage out of the water and proclaiming the animal dead.
TeachKind is also sending the school district its “Challenging Assumptions” curriculum, which helps secondary school students examine discrimination and other social justice issues; its “Share the World” program kit, which includes lessons that aim to foster empathy for animals and are appropriate for even the youngest learners; and anti-bullying posters.
“When young people do something as cruel and appalling as drowning a cat, it sends shockwaves through the community, but horrific incidents like this are completely preventable,” says PETA Vice President Marta Holmberg. “Compassion can be cultivated, and TeachKind urges educators to use our resources to help kids process this atrocity and teach them that violence is never okay, whether the victim is a cat or a classmate.”
TeachKind notes that an epidemic of youth violence is surging nationwide, emphasizing the urgent need for humane education at every grade level. TeachKind’s resources are easy to integrate into schools’ existing curricula to help prevent future violence.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. TeachKind offers free presentations, lessons, and other resources to help teachers add compassion to their curricula. For more information, please visit TeachKind.org or follow TeachKind on Facebook or Instagram.
