Despite stealing a dead dog from a Dunedin veterinary clinic, an Otago Polytechnic art student has escaped criminal charges.
But the second-year male Dunedin School of Art student has been subjected to the polytechnic's disciplinary procedures and will receive a formal letter in response to his actions.
The student was extremely remorseful and had personally delivered letters of apology to all concerned, polytechnic communications director Mike Waddell said.
Police received a burglary report on the weekend of March 17-18, of a person entering an enclosed yard at a Dunedin veterinary practice and taking a frozen dog from a chiller.
On Monday, March 19, the male art student draped the dead dog over a beer crate for a sculpture assignment.
His morbid installation, in an art school exhibition space, shocked and upset fellow students and faculty members.
The student, who intended to pay tribute to the dead animal through his art work, was asked to remove the dog immediately and the sculpture studio was closed for a day.
In an effort to learn from the incident, art students and lecturers then debated the ethical boundaries of art.
Initially, the student lied to his teachers, saying he had found the dead dog, without any identification tags, on a Dunedin road.
But when police became involved, he apologised to those at the veterinary clinic, who decided not to pursue charges.
"The person who took the animal was extremely remorseful and regretted his behaviour. The veterinary practice did not want to take the matter further and no police action has been taken," a police spokeswoman said.
When contacted by the Otago Daily Times yesterday, the clinic manager declined to comment.
Campus policeman, Constable Max Holt, also declined to speak about the incident.
Mr Waddell said the polytechnic treated the incident seriously and was satisfied the student was "incredibly remorseful".
Dunedin School of Art head of school Leoni Schmidt said students were actively encouraged to express and push their creativity, but there were ethical limits and boundaries which the school adhered to.
The student declined to talk to the ODT.
