Girl cut up puppy for school project

BATON ROUGE, La., Aug. 14 (UPI) -- A high school student in Baton Rouge, La., dissected a dead puppy allegedly as part of an assignment from her biology class, a police report says.

An East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office report said after a photography lab worker reported pictures of the girl cutting up the small animal, the girl's mother alleged the dissection was assigned to the unidentified Woodlawn High School student, Louisiana's WAFB-TV, Baton Rouge, said Wednesday.

Yet a spokesman for the school system denied the claim, saying students were never told to use a euthanized puppy for their at-home assignment.

Spokesman Chris Trahan said that while the student's biology teacher did assign students to complete a skeletal preparation assignment, he never directed students to seek out euthanized animals from area animal centers.

"The teacher stated that at no time did he direct any of his students to go to the animal control center or the humane society to collect a specimen," Trahan told WAFB-TV.