"Some people think it's cruel for us to kill these venomous snakes. We would like for you to know we are protecting ourselves and our animals."

These words, spoken by a cute little blond third grade boy from Snyder Elementary School in Texas, left me in shock while I was watching the KC3-4Kids (Kids Creating Community Content) 2011 Contest presented by CILC and CISCO. The program was also shared with a school in Arizona.

The level of mis-information was shocking -- for example, they were taught that snakes only eat twice a year, that a headless, dead snake can still hurt you, and that the venom milked at the notorius "rattlesnake round-ups" is used to create anti-venom. No less staggering was the children discussing how pouring gas into snake den is a necessary measure to capture, the danger to all the cattle (even though they have to leave the ranch and head to rocks to capture the animals).

Adults prepared the script for these children, by the way. Children are the future and it is what they learn at this time that shape their minds. In Snyder, Texas, they are learning to practice and justify animal abuse.

Tell the program organizers this is not eduction, this is cruelty. Contact the program sponsors here:

Bev Mattocks
Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration
bmattocks@cilc.org
Tweet @cilcorg

John Earnhardt
Cisco Corporate PR and Social Media communications
jearnhar@cisco.com
Tweet him @urnhart
Tweet Cisco @CiscoSystems

Tag your Tweets with #stopanimalcruelty for additional impact.

ETA: It worked! The video has been removed: