Misinformed letter

I would like to point out some of the misinformation in Mr. Garrison’s letter for your reading public. First off, I am not the reporter who wrote the article so don’t blame me for the inaccuracies in it. Please discuss that with the newspaper and not me.

As for being forgetful, I have found it common for people to forget passwords and usernames if they don’t use them regularly. I was not saying that you did, but only that it was a likely explanation of why you couldn’t change the web page after posting it six or more years ago. You have read much more into this passage than what is really there.

As for you choice of using local wildlife in your dissection, this practice is frowned on by the National Science Teacher Association. In their background paper on “Responsible Use of Organisms in Precollege Science,” Section IIA, part 6, states the following:

“Whenever possible, wild (non-domesticated) specimens should be avoided for dissection purposes. [Commercial organizations are strongly encouraged to prepare specimens for dissection that have been bred or raised expressly for this purpose.]

These guidelines can be viewed at http://www.nsta.org/organisms.

Was it really necessary for you to use endangered or threatened species to learn about mammals and the four-chambered heart when a rat, guinea pig or cat would have done as well?

As for needing a permit, you need to read the laws more carefully. In the CNMI, you need written permission from the Director of the Division of Fish and Wildlife to even possess a locally listed species, which you state you didn’t have. As for the turtles, they are federally listed and you need a permit from the federal government to possess them. This permission cannot be given by the CNMI Division of Fish and Wildlife. By not having this permit, you are opening yourself and PSS up to civil penalties of up to $25,000 per violation, and criminal penalties of up to $50,000 and/or up to one year in jail per violation. I hope that you instructed your students of these possibilities, Mr. Garrison. I see this as more of a failure of the Division of Fish and Wildlife than on the part of Mr. Garrison and PSS.

As for the colleges and universities that show fruit bat dissections, are they federal listed endangered species? There are many species of fruit bats and not all are endangered. By the way, the Marianas fruit bat is now on the federal list of endangered species as of last year. Second, are you equating Marianas High School with Duke University and University of Michigan? I hope not.

Finally, it was not me that first raised this issue about the inappropriate displaying of endangered species on a poorly designed web page. These concerns were first raised by a biologist who works for the federal government. She was wondering if this web page was a hoax or real. I didn’t know, but I did intend to find out. I tried for over a week to find out without any results. I was just the messenger for a lot of people that are concerned about the now removed MHS Marianas fruit bat web page.

Again, thank you, Mr. Garrison, for taking this web page down. That was my only goal in starting this whole thing. Class dismissed.

Howard Cole
Marpo Valley, Tinian