Five 2nd-grade kids who don't follow strict rules by their school principal Brinway are dubbed "Stinkers" by him. On the class visit to an aquarium the Stinkers decide that a sea lion called Slappy doesn't feel too good there, "free" him, and plant him into Brinway's hot-tub.
Sort of: A villain appears to use an electric prod on Slappy to get Slappy to move in the cage. It's edited so that you hear it and see/hear Slappy jump a split second later but don't actually see the zap. So, while the zap is certainly implied, you could still pretend that he may not have actually zapped Slappy but perhaps moved him with the fright caused by the noise. Slappy is otherwise never in any real danger, and there's no Toby Tyler style "survives a gunshot" style fake death or other such manipulation.