Is this a matter of research or disrespect? This is the current debate that's going on at a Texas high school after a group of students was caught on camera using cats' intestines as a jump rope during a lesson.
On one side, there's the North East Independent School District, which says that the act committed by the students at Winston Churchill High School was part of a lesson. On the other, there's People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), which says that the act was disrespectful towards the animals and the students who committed it should be held responsible for their actions.
School officials say that the incident in question occurred sometime earlier this month during an anatomy class at the San Antonio-based high school. One of the student's recorded the lesson, which shows the students handling and jumping over the dissected intestines at the back of a classroom, and published it on his/her personal social media page.
The video quickly made the rounds on the Internet and caught the attention of PETA, which was less then thrilled to see the innards of a dead animal being used as a jump rope.
The organization quickly voiced its objections to the lesson, saying, "PETA points out that behavior that makes light of the suffering and mutilation of animals is not only disturbing but also violates leading science education organizations' guidelines, which state that classrooms must treat animals respectfully and ethically."
However, while PETA vilified the students and teacher who were part of the lesson, NEISD Executive Director of Communications Aubrey Chancellor came out in their defense, saying that the video was not meant to be degrading or disrespectful.
"The idea of the lesson was to explore the tensile strength of the organs, the intention was for students to grasp that concept," Chancellor said.
She added that the teacher responsible for the lesson had participated in one like it during her college classes at Texas A&M University.
The NEISD revealed that the incident is being investigated but added that it's unlikely the students or teacher will face disciplinary action.
"We understand best practices change over time, so we are deciding if this is the most appropriate lesson and way to demonstrate this concept," Chancellor said.
In addition to condemning the lesson and those involved, PETA suggested that the school replace "cruel and crude" dissection methods with digital, animal-free ones.
"PETA is calling on Winston Churchill High School to teach its students to respect life and science by replacing crude and cruel animal dissection with humane and effective non-animal teaching methods," PETA said.
Chancellor said that in the meantime, the school will keep an open mind to the suggested changes but noted that animal dissections are "common" and will remain a part of the curriculum for the time being.
