Hagrid the animal abuser (was:Hagrid and Draco WAS:Re: Dumbledore...

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 166165

Katie wrote:

I think you're taking a hard line against Hagrid. I agree that he is
often less than concientious about his "pets", but I don't think he's
an abusive, off-balanced animal hoarder.
> Let's consider this - if Hagrid were so awful and abusive, would
his "pets" be so loyal to him? Aragog and Buckbeak love Hagrid and are
loyal and faithful to him. Aragog even goes so far as to defy the laws
of his race to make sure Hagrid is safe coming to visit. I doubt that
the wretched and sick animals kept by an animal hoarder are so
positively disposed to their abuser. And it's not some case of them
loving Hagrid because he's ausive or some psychobabble...he truly
loves these creatures and his love is returned.
> Now, Hagrid ISN'T always very careful or thoughtful about the
dangers these creatures pose, but he seems to take good care of the
animals themselves. As the Trio often laments, Hagrid's biggest
problem is that he never sees a monster as a monster...he's too loving
and accepting. But...he's also often right...not with Aragog, but
certainly Buckbeak turned out to be a wonderful companion and friend,
not only for Hagrid and Sirius, but for the Trio as well. And Grawp is
coming around...I know he isn't a pet, but he's a big, dangerous giant
that Hagrid underestimates the danger of...however, Hagrid was right
to think that Grawp could be more than a beast, and it seems that's
happening.
> So, in the end, I think that Hagrid is definitely NOT an animal
abuser, just a well-intentioned, but often thoughtless, man who really
likes wierd pets. <snip>

Carol responds:
I agree with you. Except for the Flobberworms, which, IIRC, die from
being fed too much lettuce and the Skrewts, which kill each other off,
and the poor Bowtruckles burned in the fire (not Hagrid's fault), he
takes pretty good care of his pets.

It's the students who are in danger (of boredom, in the case of the
Flobberworms). I think--and, please don't accuse me of racism or
speciesism against half-giants--that Hagrid is so big and his skin so
tough that he can endure injuries (including attacks from Grawp and
burns from Skrewts) that are much more serious for normal-sized
people, even witches and wizards. He isn't really thinking about the
possible danger to the kids. Even when Norbert burns eleven-year-old
Ron, he's more concerned about the baby dragon than the child, as if
it's the child's fault. (And even if it were, the child still needs to
have his burn treated.)

I don't know how Hagrid learned about animals, but I suspect he was
taught one-on-one by Ogg (the gamekeeper before Hagrid, according to
Mrs. Weasley)--an expert teaching a very strong, very eager
thirteen-year-old. That's another thing Hagrid doesn't understand--not
everyone, in fact, hardly anyone--shares his intense interest in
"interestin' creatures," the more dangerous, the better. Not only does
he illegally breed Skrewts, he has (before he began teaching) found
Aragog a "wife" (whose name escapes me) so that the Forbidden Forest
now hold hundreds or thousands of huge, venomous, human-eating
spiders, some of them six feet tall! (No wonder it's Forbidden.)

And his so-called lesson plans have not been thought out. If Professor
Grubbly-Plank can teach a Ministry-approved curriculum that prepares
students for their OWLs and NEWTs in COMC, so could Hagrid.
Admittedly, unlike Grubbly-Plank, who presumably took both exams and
did exceedingly well in COMC, at least, Hagrid never got to OWL year,
but he could still easily ask, say, Charlie Weasley, or the retired
Professor Kettleburn, which animals the kids will be tested on or
order a Ministry-approved textbook instead of the useless and
dangerous "The Monster Book of Monsters." COMC is supposed to be about
caring for magical creatures that a witch or wizard might actually
want to keep as a pet--Nifflers and Knarls and Krups or even Unicorns,
if they're really good at creature-keeping and have a forest for the
Unicorns to run in--or creatures that they might encounter in the WW
and need to know how to deal with, such as Bowtruckles.

Even if Hippogriffs are in the curriculum, and, somehow, I can't see
the examiners bringing a Hippogriff to the school even for the NEWT
students, you don't start your first class with them. You start with
something more interesting than Flobberworms but not much more
dangerous--Knarls, Krups, Bowtruckles--that's likely to be on the exam
and work up, saving the more dangerous or scary creatures, such as
Hippogriffs and Thestrals, for the advanced students who intend to
stay with the subject.

It isn't just that Hagrid has no training as a teacher, or that he's
easily upset and brought to tears (which is one reason why Draco
Malfoy holds him in contempt). He simply has no common sense, no
understanding of the way other people's minds work, no capacity for
planning or logic.

While I think it's great that Snape, who knows what he's doing and
takes precautions in his class, always having the necessary antidote
on hand, is teaching his students potions that the Ministry thinks are
too advanced for their level, it's different with Hagrid. He has no
teaching experience, not even a complete education, and he doesn't
realize the dangers he's exposing his students to. Admittedly, he did
warn the students that Hippogriffs are "proud" and that they can hurt
you, but it was dangerous and foolish to present them as a first
lesson to thirteen-year-olds with no previous experience in the
subject. And exposing fourth-years to the dangerous and illegal
Skrewts, which they would never encounter elsewhere in the WW, was
simply irresponsible.

Snape doesn't need a textbook because he has all the potions in his
head, but in Hagrid's case, a Ministry-approved textbook comparable to
the one Lupin uses for DADA (also focusing on magical creatures,
albeit mildly Dark ones) would have been a real boon. It would at
least provide a logical sequence of creatures that the students would
need to know about in real life and in their exams. It might even
provide lesson plans if there's a teacher's edition (not likely, but
possible). All Hagrid would then have to do is obtain the creatures
for the lessons, explain their characteristics, and let the students
actually care for them, which, after all, is what Care of Magical
Creatures is supposed to be about.

Carol, who thinks that McGonagall should hire Grubbly-Plank to teach
COMC and demote Hagrid back to just plain gamekeeper and Keeper of the
Keys, whatever that means