A cat named JP that intrigued Dubai school
Most animals may just be temporary guests to schools, but one institution has “adopted” a street cat, named JP. Students at the Dubai British School Jumeirah Park (DBSJP) have grown fond of JP, who shows up at the school early morning and leaves late afternoon everyday.
However, JP does not just sit around, napping, inside the school. The cat was, in fact, the centre of a crime scene investigation.
Each Grade carried out a particular aspect of the investigation which involved collecting irrefutable scientific evidence to eliminate suspects and finally, find out what had happened at DBSJP Heather Mann, principal, Dubai British School Jumeirah Park
Students from year one to eight took part in the investigation after they discovered someone had deleted the house points from the school computer.
After seeing the broken vase in the same room and footprints of paws, they started to suspect that the culprit couldn’t be a human. “Each Grade carried out a particular aspect of the investigation which involved collecting irrefutable scientific wevidence to eliminate suspects and finally, find out what had happened at DBSJP,” the principal at the school, Heather Mann, said. “Parents were invited to help solve the mystery and even had their own poll of who they believed to be guilty.
“A confession was received from one of the suspects, but the scientific evidence proved that it could not have been this person.
“All suspects were lined up and one by one they were eliminated based on the evidence collected. Further investigation revealed the culprit and was announced at the end of the week assembly. It was JP, the school cat.”
The principal added: “He had been chasing a fly and had jumped onto the computer thus wiping the system of all the points.
“His footprints, fur and blood were all discovered at the scene. He had cut his paw as he knocked over a vase running from the building.”
JP wasn’t really punished heavily for his actions, but he did “apologise”. Later, he took a “comfortable” nap at the principal’s office for the rest of the afternoon that day.
sarwat@khaleejtimes.com