WARNING: The video above may be disturbing to some viewers.
Video footage of an American school in Oklahoma City has emerged of nine of its students making dead cats dance during a biology class.
The animals were due to be dissected during the lesson at Harding Charter Preparatory High School, but ended up being used as props in a synchronised dance routine.
In the clip, students wearing white jackets hold up the feline corpses and move them to the music, while a student in front with another dead cat acts as conductor. No teacher is seen in the video, and it's not clear whether a teacher played any role in producing it.
Local media including KFOR and NewsOK said officials from the school did not respond to requests for comment. PETA also said its letters to the school have gone unanswered.
However, using the Freedom of Information Act, the organization obtained an email exchange between Harding principal Justin Hunt and a state official asking about the incident.
"Most of the students in the video were no longer students here at HCP when I had received the video, so they were not punished," Hunt wrote in the documents, which PETA shared with The Huffington Post.
"I have had conversations with the teacher. She has ensured me that this will never happen again. This is completely out of character for our students and especially our staff. The perception that this video creates is not one that we would like to be out there about HCP. In my opinion, we have handled this situation in hopes that it will never happen again."
PETA added: "Students learn faster and better by using non-animal methods such as interactive software programs, and with these modern tools, they don't learn to treat or think of animals as equipment to be used and discarded."