Youths get front row look at deer necropsy

EVANSVILLE, Wis., Dec. 14 (UPI) -- A Wisconsin middle school teacher said his seventh-grade students witnessed a deer dissection to help teach them about the state's official wild animal.

Bruce Curtis, a teacher at McKenna Middle School in Evansville, said only a few students decided not to attend the optional necropsy, which was performed by his father, Hugh Curtis, retired director of outdoor education for the Wausau School District's School Forest nature area, the Wisconsin State Journal reported Monday.

Curtis and his father said the lesson teaches students about deer as well as giving them the opportunity to view organs similar to those found in humans.

"It's an ad lib project because when you open up that animal, you never know what you are going to find," Hugh Curtis said.

The project received overall positive reviews from the students.

"It was exciting because I don't really get to see the organs when I'm out deer hunting," said seventh-grader and budding hunter Alex Shoemaker.