Arkansas teacher kills racoon with nailgun???

This story just came over the AP wire, and while it is really much ado about nothing, the teacher certainly could have exercised better judgement. Here's basically what happened:

At a school in Arkansas, a high school agriculture teacher had planned to demonstrate to the class the process of skinning a coon. Well, the student who was supposed to bring the animal to school for the demonstration brought a live racoon instead of one that was already dead. Now, it's not a good idea to skin a live coon in front of your class. Therein lies the problem. The teacher, wanting to salvage his lesson plan, simply takes the coon out back and procedes to eliminate the animal with a nail gun. My first question: were any students witnesses to this coon getting nailed? The answer: no, apparently no students witnessed the cute, cuddly coon at the end. Still, the killing of the animal on school grounds has caused the story to make the news and has caused the school to comment that animals will not be slaughtered on campus in the future.

Clearly, I have a relaxed approach to this story. Why? Although I am not located in Arkansas, I am a principal in rural Missouri, where probably 70% of our students will deer hunt this season. Something like what happened with this coon would not surprise or offend 90% of my students. Still, teachers have an obligation to think about all of the possibilities and what unintended consequences may occur from one's actions. Killing a coon at school with a nailgun? Probably not the best idea!