It's been years since my high school biology class, but I still remember the smell of the rotting pig corpses that we mutilated over the course of a nightmarish three-day lab. Piled in the corner of the room in a black garbage bag, the carcasses emanated a rancid smell that only got worse each day, and after each lab period, we all ate lunch in the same room—the lab doubled as our cafeteria.

Today, though, it's the sweet smell of victory that I'm waking up to. Nine months ago, a compassionate student at Oakton Community College contacted PETA about a professor who was having students in an anatomy and physiology class cut open live rats and mudpuppies to observe how their organs worked. We immediately contacted school officials to share information on the intelligent, complex animals who were being tormented and killed for these experiments and presented officials with cruelty-free and effective educational alternatives. This week, Oakton Community College let us know that it has stopped using live animals in ALL of its classes!

shiachat / CC

We're urging all schools (hear that, ASU?) to follow Oakton's enlightened path and replace their cruel classroom animal experiments with modern, more effective non-animal learning methods. Biology is the study of life—it just doesn't make any sense to kill animals to teach it. Urge schools in your area to get smart and go cruelty-free.

Posted by Logan Scherer

New clothes and a new crush may get many students excited about school, but the surest way to make someone dread biology class is to mention that cruel old standby, dissection.

Since Steve-O knows that only a "jackass" would force a kid to cut up an animal and call it "science," the Wildboyz star was on hand outside Fairfax High School in Los Angeles this afternoon to kick off Cut Out Dissection Month.

His new ad aims to empower kids to fight for their rights not to dissect on animals and to pressure educators to provide alternatives to dissection.

Every year, nearly 6 million animals, including frogs, rats, pigs, and cats, are cut open in cruel, outdated dissection exercises that teach students to dismiss concerns about animal suffering. It's no secret that many violent offenders, including serial killers get their start abusing animals.

Kinder, more effective alternatives to dissection exist and offer students the opportunity to focus on learning instead of cringing through animal cut-ups. In fact, I'm willing to bet that if all schools implemented only humane biology lessons, students would forever remember that this duodenum, not this one, is found in their small intestine.

Posted by Karin Bennett

P.S. More pics of Steve-O's unveiling after the jump.

supercoolpets / CC

You're out for a walk with your dog when two men suddenly appear and grab him before you have a chance to react. In an instant, your canine companion is gone. Then—as if that weren't horrifying enough—you later learn that your beloved friend is caged in a medical school laboratory, slated to be cut open and killed in a training exercise.

It's every animal guardian's worst nightmare, and it allegedly happened recently to Carmen Valverde of Lima, Peru, and her dog, Tomas.

After Tomas was stolen, a neighbor of Carmen's who works at the teaching hospital in the University of San Marcos recognized him while looking in the surgery room in which the school routinely dissects dogs.

The neighbor alerted Carmen and, wearing a lab coat, Carmen was able to sneak into the facility at the university and rescue Tomas, who was already sedated and strapped down for dissection.

While the school claims that it only dissects "dogs [who] don't have owners," after Tomas' story was made public, at least one other guardian found her missing dog in the same laboratory.

We're following this case and will keep you posted on any developments.

This problem isn't limited to Peru. Animals suffer in laboratories no matter where they come from, but laboratories that are willing to pay for animals provide an incentive for unscrupulous people to get animals wherever they can—often from our streets and yards. "Bunchers" may drug animals, pose as animal control officers, or answer "free to a good home" ads to get puppies and kittens to sell.

You can help end this nightmare by doing the following:

• Never give animals away "free to a good home."
• Never allow animals outside without supervision.
• Persuade schools to replace training on animals with superior non-animal methods.

Posted by Jeff Mackey

huffingtonpost / CC

The mutilation and slaughter of 19 cats in the South Miami-Dade area of Florida has made national news recently. Now that 18-year-old Tyler Weinman has been arrested and charged in connection with the killings, an article published today points out that the accused cat killer participated in classroom dissections last year.

Fearing Weinman might be a danger to himself and/or others, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Mindy Glazer has ordered a psychiatric evaluation—and house arrest if Weinman makes bail—noting, "I'm concerned about his safety and the safety of the community.''

Smart woman. After all, most—if not all—notorious serial killers got their start abusing animals (think Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy, Son of Sam, and the Boston Strangler, just to name a few). Heck, even the main character in Showtime's popular series Dexter is a serial killer whose first victims were animals.

Parents and educators need to be aware that classroom dissections teach students that it's OK to be cruel. Schools should instead be teaching students to respect life by teaching anatomy via any of the many humane alternatives that are available. That's why we've written to the principal of Weinman's school urging him to stop all animal dissections and replace them with non-animal learning methods, which we are offering to provide free of charge. After all, I'm sure he doesn't want to risk adding any of his students' faces to the "Most Wanted" lists of criminals who "graduated" from dissecting frogs, rats, and cats to killing and cutting up men, women, and children.

Posted by Karin Bennett

media.photobucket / CC

As a Midwestern gal, I would like to take you on a quick, two-stop, cruelty-free tour of my section of the U.S. It's a little something I'm calling the Midwest Victory Tour. Sometimes I feel as though this part of the country gets a bum rap, so this tour is to give props to two forward-thinking Midwestern educational institutions, one in Wisconsin and one in Utah, that have recently stopped exploiting animals. If only all schools could be as progressive.

First stop on the Midwest Victory Tour is a school district in Wisconsin. A concerned citizen contacted us after learning that the district was offering a kids' summer science course that included six dissections as well as an activity in which students were given a live rat to "care for" throughout the duration of the course. We contacted the school immediately about cutting out the old-school classroom dissections and to inform school officials that rats need constant care and compassion, not a summer course's worth of "caretaking." After nearly a year of persistent follow-up, we are excited to let you know that this course is finally history!

Our next stop on the tour takes us to a Utah educational nonprofit that was recommending experiments in which live goldfish were put in ice baths in order to cause hypothermia. Since the experimenters probably wouldn't do this sort of thing to Fluffy, the family kitty, we sent the nonprofit a letter outlining why it's cruel to freeze any kitten—including sea kittens. After hearing our suggestion for cruelty-free coursework, the nonprofit has agreed to no longer suggest shocking the nervous systems of these adorable goldkittens for classroom experiments.

Well, that's the end of our Midwest Victory Tour. See, it's not all beef-expos and pus-farms in the Midwest. There's some compassion for animals too.

Posted by Shawna Flavell

She may have a funny name, but she's no classroom cut-up. Just in time for Cut Out Dissection Month (October), PETA intern Jennifer Thornburg has officially changed her name to CutOut Dissection.com. Latin for "compassionate frog lover" (I might have made that up), CutOut Dissection.com is on a mission to cut dissection out of school curriculums.

Why is Ms. Dissection.com hopping mad about dissection? Any way you slice it, dissection is cruelty in the classroom. Millions of frogs, cats, dogs, pigs, worms, mice, rats, rabbits, and fish are killed each year for student dissections. Breeding facilities that supply animals to schools rip animals from their natural homes, and some even use stolen or abandoned animal companions. PETA went undercover at one such supply house and caught employees embalming cats and rats while they were still alive!

Animals deserve to be left in peace, not pieces. CutOut Dissection.com couldn't agree more. Read our interview with this dedicated activist to get the lowdown on her name change and much more.

PETA: What made you decide to change your name?
CutOut Dissection.com: I changed my name in order to raise awareness about the 6 million animals who are killed and processed for dissection each year. These animals suffer painful deaths and their bodies are then used in labs, when computer stimulations, diagrams, or 3D models could be used instead. Cutting up animals in school sends the message to students that an animal's life is worthless. I don't think that's a message teachers should be sending. With so many cheaper, more educational, and humane ways to learn, there is no reason for students to be dissecting in high schools today. I hope to raise awareness on this subject, and to cause teachers and students to say "No" to dissection and "Yes" to alternative ways to learn anatomy.

PETA: Did you dissect in high school?
CutOut Dissection.com: In middle school I dissected a chicken. I wasn't into the idea of dissecting an animal, but when I asked my teacher for an alternative, he said that I could only have it if I went vegetarian for the two weeks leading up to the dissection. I thought that was crazy at the time, so I went through with the project. Looking back, I can't remember much from the actual dissection; I know now that using an alternative would have been much more educational, and I also know that it's definitely not crazy to be a vegetarian too.

PETA: What do people call you now?
CutOutDissection.com: My fellow interns call me CutOut, but my family still calls me Jenny. My favorite thing to do is to introduce myself to people as CutOut Dissection.com, which always raises a few questions. This gives me a chance to explain a few facts about dissection—such as how cats are sometimes pumped with formaldehyde while they're still conscious.

PETA: What have people's reactions been to your name?
CutOut Dissection.com: CutOut is one of those names that you have to say three times, spell out, and use in a sentence before people process it. Once people get my name down, they normally want to know why I changed it. This gives me a chance to tell them about the estimated 6 million animals used in high school dissection labs throughout the United States every year. Once people learn how the animals are gassed, pumped with formaldehyde, drowned or otherwise inhumanely killed for dissection, they are shocked and want to know what they can do to help.

PETA: You're obviously very passionate about educating people about dissection. Why is that?
CutOut Dissection.com: Two years ago, I was an active peta2 Street Team member. I was trying to rake up some points to trade in for a shirt, and I got an e-mail saying that anything that I did relating to dissection during the month of October would be worth double the points. Because of this, I decided to work on getting a dissection-choice policy passed at my high school. When I started to research policies and why dissection is bad for the school, students, and animals, it became an obsession of mine. My senior exit project and my junior year were both dedicated to getting a dissection-choice policy passed at my high school. I was shocked when I read about how much more educational the alternatives to dissection can be, how much money they can save for the school, and how many lives could be spared. It's shocking to me that schools still use dissection as a part of their science lessons when there are so many humane and equally educational alternatives out there that will also save schools money.

PETA: I know you got the policy passed at your school. Congrats! How excited were you?
CutOut Dissection.com: I was super-excited, to say the very least!

PETA: I can imagine. What did the DMV say when you got your new license?
CutOut Dissection.com: It took me two tries to get my license. On the second try, the DMV worker looked very amused and confused, but also looked like she was afraid to ask for an explanation. When she finally did ask about it, I had a good conversation with her, explaining that CutOutDissection.com is a real Web site and then explaining why I'm against dissection. She seemed repulsed by the thought of animals being drowned, pumped full of formaldehyde, and gassed as a way of death. She also looked shocked when I told her that it affects 6 million animals per year. When she called over another worker to be a witness to my paperwork, the other worker grinned and said, "Oh, I remember her!" (It happened to be the worker I had talked to on my first attempt to get my license). Overall, it was a great opportunity to start a conversation about alternatives to dissection!

Whether you are a student, parent, teacher, or concerned taxpayer, you can act to end dissection in your town's school system. Visit CutOutDissection.com (the Web site, not the person) for tips on what to do and help getting started.

Posted by Amy Elizabeth

Jeff really hit the nail on the head with this one! To learn more about dissection, check out peta2.com.

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