School in Oklahoma ends dissection of cats after video emerges showing students making dead animals 'dance'

Harding Charter Prep School had been heavily criticised by PETA

Students can be seen making the dead cats 'dance' during a biology lesson involving dissection (YouTube/PETA)

An Oklahoma City high school has ended classes involving the dissection of cats after a video surfaced of students appearing to make the dead animals dance during a lesson.

Harding Charter Preparatory School was heavily criticised by the animal rights group People For Ethical Treatment Of Animals (PETA), who discovered the clip and posted it online.

In the video, nine students can be seen dressed in lab coats in a biology lesson co-ordinating the dead animals in a synchronised dance, lying them down on a table before bouncing the felines together in pairs.

The theme song for a 'Meow Mix' food commercial plays in the background as the 'dance' takes place.

Warning - the video contains distressing content

Following the internet backlash against the video, which the school indicated had been filmed in 2013, the Harding Charter Principal Justin Hunt told a CBS News affiliate that they would put an end to lessons involving cat dissection.

“I think it was students who made a mistake and hopefully they'll learn from it,” said Mr Hunt to KWTV.

According to CBS, school officials had confirmed that the teacher who was responsible for the students when they filmed the video had been disciplined.

However, the school's assistant principal Mylo Miller told the network that the school would not rule out what will replace the lessons, and had not ruled out dissection of another animal.

PETA had reportedly written to Harding Charter urging the school to consider how classroom dissection can create a callous attitude towards animals in students.