An Austrian schoolteacher in the town of Horn reportedly killed two rabbits in front of his class for a biology lesson. Photo by Tom Middleton/Shutterstock

HORN, Austria, July 3 (UPI) -- An Austrian schoolteacher received heavy criticism from students and parents after killing two rabbits in front of his class as part of a biology lesson this week.

After killing the rabbits, he proceeded to dissect them.


According to reports, the middle school teacher breeds rabbits during his free time and brought the animals to work. On Monday, he reportedly killed one of the animals with a captive bolt stun gun and repeated the lesson in front of a different class the next day.

When other students had heard about the gruesome lecture, they reportedly offered to buy the animal from the teacher in an effort to save its life. He is said to have refused the offer because he planned to eat the animal's meat for dinner.

A surge of messages of disapproval pushed the local school board to investigate the incident. Inspector Hermann Helm reportedly told the Heute newspaper that the teacher is known for "his unorthodox teaching methods," but that this specific incident had overstepped boundaries.

"He has received a warning and I wrote to him telling him to refrain from such methods immediately -- I'll be speaking to him next week."