Videos of rat abuse at Petaluma High prompt outcry

Videos showing Sonoma County high school students abusing rats at an on-campus wildlife museum have sparked outrage and a petition to the governor asking him to shut down the nonprofit program.

The Santa Rosa Press Democrat reported Thursday that the videos, posted to an anonymous student’s Instagram account, show at least two students slamming live rats against a wall or a bin to kill them.

The incidents are believed to have occurred late last year and in February at the Petaluma Wildlife Museum, a student-run museum at Petaluma High School.

School and museum officials say the students involved have been disciplined. Student disciplinary records are confidential, but officials tell the newspaper the students involved have been removed from the program.

A Change.org petition to Gov. Jerry Brown has more than a thousand signatures.