A Whangarei Boys' High School student has been stood down for five days for pulling the head off a duckling.
The 13-year-old was with other boys who threw rocks at the mother duck until they killed it.
The incident took place during a lunch break last week near the Waiarohia Stream which runs alongside the school's sports field.
The boys caught one of a clutch of ducklings and were handing it around when it defecated on the hand of one of them, the school's headmaster, Al Kirk, said.
The boy reacted by tearing off the duckling's head. One or two of the boys then started throwing rocks at the distressed parent duck. Mr Kirk described the incident as "shocking".
"This is normally a reasonable young man, but he way overstepped the mark," Mr Kirk said.
Northland SPCA has arranged for the boy to do a number of hours of community work.
- The Northern Advocate
