Aiming to protest against animal dissections in schools, a 19-year-old student has decided to legally change her name to CutoutDissection.com, which is also the Internet address of an anti-dissection page for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) website. The former Jennifer Thornburg is currently interning for the animal rights organization PETA.

The teenager, an Asheville High School graduate working in Virginia, revealed that she became an opponent to animals being dissected in schools while in middle school, when her and her colleagues were given a class assignment to cut up a chicken wing. She did not want to dissect the wing, but when she told her teacher that, the latter said that unless she was a vegetarian, she had to do it.

Feeling extremely uncomfortable while completing the task, she then decided to take a stand and consequently managed to help create a policy that offered students who were against animal dissections the option to receive and complete an alternative assignment.

In addition, she also became a vegan meanwhile.

Her new name is actually raising awareness with regards to animal dissections in schools, since, as she has stated, each time she introduced herself to someone, people were intrigued and asked about her peculiar name, which gave her the opportunity to tell them about the website.

Nevertheless, her family has yet to become accustomed to calling her Cutout, so they are still using her former name Jennifer.

PETA, which is the largest animal rights group worldwide, was founded back in 1980 and has since then focused on sensitive issues such as factory farming, fur farming, animal testing and animals in entertainment.