So a while back, I posted an entry on these here PETA Files calling out the Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine about numerous photographs we had received documenting the mutilation of animals who were forced to undergo multiple surgeries before being killed and cut apart at the university. Sounds like a pretty reasonable point for an animal protection organization to raise with a veterinary school, but our letters to the university met with enough resistance that we decided to launch an action alert encouraging people to contact the school about the issue.

The good news is that, after a few weeks of back and forth, the Ross folks cancelled all invasive and terminal dog surgeries, something that we—and a whole lot of dogs—were extremely grateful for. As my friend Shalin points out in his recent letter to the local newspaper, it’s totally cool by us if they want to claim that this development was a coincidence and had nothing to do with our requests—as long as they’re making the changes, that’s the important thing.

But we’re not quite finished yet. Ross is still conducting invasive and terminal surgeries on donkeys and sheep, and that needs to stop, like, ASAP. Plenty of veterinary schools are able to teach students to help animals without killing them first, and Ross should join that club sooner rather than later. They’ve already taken an important step in the right direction. I’ll keep you posted on how it all turns out.

We sent this letter to the St. Kitts Attorney General yesterday urging him to immediately investigate the “teaching” procedures being performed on dogs, donkeys, and sheep at Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine, which is owned by Chicago-based DeVry, Inc. (of late-night TV commercial fame). We’re also calling for prosecution of any school officials who are found to have been violating the island’s cruelty-to-animals statutes.

All this got set into motion when we received numerous photographs documenting the mutilation of animals who are forced to undergo multiple surgeries before they are killed and cut apart. The key points to remember here are that a) there are numerous humane alternatives to the tests conducted at Ross, and b) it is illegal to cause "unnecessary suffering" to animals under St. Kitts law. As it should be. Here’s what PETA’s research director told the media today:

"Ross University is forcing its students—men and women who will devote their lives to healing animals—to maim and kill dogs and other animals in unnecessary, painful procedures. We're asking the attorney general to help students and animals by enforcing St. Kitts' anti-cruelty laws."

If you’d like write to the veterinary school about this issue, you can do so through the handy webform here.

After receiving a frantic e-mail that was being circulated by a Purdue student who was desperate to find a home for one of the dogs used in her class, we dug up some extremely disturbing information about Purdue University’s Veterinary Technology Program. As part of this program, catheters are inserted into perfectly healthy dogs, who are killed following the experiment if students are unable to find homes for them.

According to the information we received, the students themselves are burdened with the task of finding homes for the animals used in these unnecessary procedures—and the penalty for failure is death for the dogs. "It became our responsibility to find all 10 of these dogs homes by the end of the semester or else they would be euthanized," wrote the student in her e-mail.

There’s so much wrong with this whole hideous program that it’s difficult to know where to begin, but the most obvious starting point is this: Vet-tech students can easily learn this stuff without hurting healthy animals—so how about making that the new SOP? We contacted Purdue this morning to make exactly that point, and ask the school to perform the procedures only on animals who are living in homes and who will receive a direct medical benefit from them, and to begin working with veterinarians in a clinical setting and with mannequins.

Or, as PETA’s Director of Research puts it,

"Purdue is exploiting these dogs and its students. Dogs aren't test tubes with tails. Holding the threat of death over students' heads is traumatic for the students, and it also means that the dogs could end up in unsuitable homes where they may face even more abuse and neglect."

You can read PETA’s letter to Purdue here.

Veterinarian Paul Armbrecht during testimony in which he asserted that hanging animals from a forklift does not constitute cruelty

If you live in Iowa, make sure you don't take your animals to a guy named Dr. Paul Armbrecht for a checkup. With a straight face and a full wallet (the good doctor was paid for his troubles), Dr. Armbrecht recently testified under oath that strangling pigs to death by hanging does not constitute cruelty to animals. In part due to this "expert" testimony from Dr. A., three hog farmers who were accused in a high-profile case of torturing pigs were let off with a slap on the wrist.

During an undercover investigation conducted by the Humane Farming Association at Wiles Hog Farm in Creston, Ohio, employees were caught killing sows by fastening a chain around their necks and attaching it to a front-end loader, which was hoisted into the air, strangling the animals to death over a period of four to five minutes. In addition to testifying that this was a reasonable form of "euthanasia," the doctor opined that Wiles Farm's practice of dragging, kicking, and dropping sows off a 4-foot ledge was an acceptable method of transporting the animals to their deaths.

Along with five other major animal protection organizations, we have asked the Iowa Veterinary Medical Association to immediately investigate this pathetic excuse for a veterinarian. The Iowa Veterinary Practice Act explicitly prohibits "knowingly making misleading, deceptive, untrue, or fraudulent representation in the practice of the profession," and if his testimony is shown to have violated this clause, we're asking them to immediately revoke his vet's license.

As PETA VP Bruce Friedrich puts it, "Dr. Armbrecht's testimony directly contradicts industry guidelines, which provide only the bare minimum of protection for animals. Giving the okay to a killing method that causes animals to slowly strangle to death makes Dr. Armbrecht a disgrace to the veterinary profession, and it opens the door for even more widespread abuse of animals."

It's a little tough to watch, but here's some video footage of the practices that Dr. Armbrecht recently defended as being "humane."

Please click here to contact the Iowa Vet Board about this issue now.

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