A Florida high school offered up an apology on Monday after they had a tiger make a surprise appearance at their Friday evening jungle-themed prom. According to UPI, Christopher Columbus High students (as well as their parents) were caught off-guard by the fact that a fucking real-life tiger was in a cage at the annual school dance:
The prom had taken place at a DoubleTree by Hilton hotel that was located next to Miami International Airport. In addition to the stressed out apex predator pacing around its cage as many slightly tense teens danced around it, the event also included appearances by a fennec fox, a lemur, and a pair of macaw parrots.
Ron Magill, who serves as an animal behavior expert and spokesman for ZooMiami, stated that the tiger was "obviously stressed."
"The tiger is clearly looking for a way to get out of that situation, it's not difficult to interpret that behavior," said Magill to the Miami Herald. "He was surrounded by people, cell phones, lights, jugglers juggling fire. I really don't know what they were thinking. Exploiting animals for entertainment at parties -- that time has passed. We know better; we've been educated."
On Sunday, the school released a statement saying the tiger was not harmed:
"The tiger, which was displayed for a few minutes in a cage, was never harmed or in danger, was not forced to perform, was always accompanied by his handlers, and for the great majority of the time was laying down in a relaxed state, facing away from the audience."
On Monday morning, the principal of the school released an apology, in which he said:
"Upon reflection, we regret the decision to have live animals at our prom. This decision in no way reflects the Marist values, teachings of the Catholic Church and/or the accomplishments of our young and that of our distinguished alumni. We remain proud of the work we do in our community by raising awareness for pediatric cancer, autism and our homeless veterans, to name a few."
Damn. Fitting pediatric cancer, autism awareness, and homeless veterans into that apology? Nicely done.
