In the video, students dressed in lab coats at Oklahoma City's Harding Charter Preparatory High School hold dead cats, that were to be used for dissection, and manipulate the animals in a set of moves to music used in a cat food jingle.
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"Animals should be treated and handled with respect and dignity, a standard that was not upheld in this instance," the school said in a statement.
"These students made a mistake and they will most likely make other mistakes in their lives," it said.
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The video was made by former students in the fall of 2013, the school said. It went viral this week after it was posted on social media by an animal rights group.
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