MSU to STOP using live dogs as "practice" Options

[doberpagegirl]

From the Detroit Freepress.

http://www.freep.com/article/20100305/NEWS...l-dog-surgeries

[Nancy Robinson]

From the Detroit Freepress.

http://www.freep.com/article/20100305/NEWS...l-dog-surgeries

THANK GOD. I was in a very heated discussion not too long ago about this
very thing. I of course was against the use of dogs and the 2 people were
for it, they can find other ways to teach. I hope other places do the
very same thing, find another way. I know they also use cats too,
at different places. How about using some of these so called people
that have done horrible horrible crimes, that would never be done
and they wouldn't even think of it.

[Cheri]

I've been mulling this over and I guess I just have to weigh in here. First of all, I applaud MSU for finally following the lead of most other veterinary schools across the nation and ending the practice of using "purpose-bred" live animals in their surgical training. They say they will now use model animals and cadaver animals for the training. Okay, so where are the cadaver animals going to come from? The same place they always came from, except they will be euthanized before arriving at MSU? Maybe the college feels better being able to say they don't use live animals, but it doesn't make any difference from the animal's point of view if they are still being bred just for the purpose of surgical training.

It occurs to me that there are animals being euthanized by veterinarians every day out of sad necessity due to illness or other infirmities. Sometimes, the owners do not wish to receive the animal's remains and elect to leave them with the clinic. Maybe there should be an option to "donate your animal's body to science," just like humans have that option. I don't know how feasible that would be, but there's just got to be some alternative to breeding animals specifically for that purpose.

[dayzimae]

It is foolish to try to justify the need to train vet surgeons with "terminal surgery" (the name makes me shudder). We don't train human surgeons that way! Students witness and assist on surgeries, and gradually begin to do them while being supervised, doing some practice with models. There's absolutely no reason vets can't be trained the same way. We do learn anatomy on cadavers -- "willed" bodies -- I myself have willed my body to my medical school. I like the idea of being able to will my dog's body. Right now I just have them cremated.