I’ve been going through my backlog of HSUS emails and I found this one which is really inspirational — it’s about a veterinary student — Ms. Nicole Putney — who managed to change her veterinary school’s use of live, healthy dogs as surgery practice animals. Basically, the veterinary school would pick up a bunch of abandoned dogs from the nearby pound, keep the dogs in cages for a while, before performing three (three!!) unnecessary surgeries on each dog and then euthanizing the dogs. It was good practice for the veterinary students — they got to try out difficult anesthetization and surgical techniques on these homeless dogs before being entrusted with the dogs of paying customers.
Anyway, Ms. Putney convinced the people who run the anesthesiology course at the veterinary school to become more humane — now, instead of mutilating these dogs for three surgeries and then killing them, the third and fourth year students get to practice neutering/spaying shelter dogs before returning the dogs to the shelters where they will (hopefully!) be adopted out to kind families.
Unfortunately Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine still has a ways to go — it still does the do-three-unnecessary-surgeries-on-healthy-dogs-and-then-kill-them routine for the freshman anatomy course and the soft tissue surgery elective. Ms. Putney believes that more than 20 healthy dogs are killed each year for these courses. She is working to implement an Educational Memorial Program (EMP) — where people would donate dead dogs so veterinary students could practice surgeries. I hope it works out!
I can only hope Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine also looks into these other awesome humane alternatives progressive veterinary schools around the country are starting to adopt:
If you’re a veterinary student looking to go to a humane veterinary school, here is a list of the humane alternatives offered by various schools:
Anyway, it’s a great article — I’m so thrilled by it! It was originally printed in the Student Humane Society Veterinary Medicine Association newsletter in July 2009 under the title Vet Student Recognized for Thinking Outside the Box:
July 7, 2009
When Nicole Putney began her studies at Washington State University (WSU) College of Veterinary Medicine two years ago, she knew she would have issues with the use of animals for training.
At the top of Nicole’s list of concerns were the use of colony dogs—dogs housed at the university and used repeatedly for teaching purposes—and terminal surgeries, in which animals are euthanized rather than recovered after surgery.
Often, students who advocate for more humane veterinary training face opposition by faculty and students who don’t want to change the status quo, but Nicole broke through the roadblocks she encountered and inspired some major changes at WSU this year.
In recognition of her work, Nicole was awarded the Outside the Boxscholarship in April. The WSU scholarship—created by Dr. Nancy Merrill, a 1997 WSU graduate—is awarded to a veterinary student who has initiated positive change on campus by thinking “outside the box.”
Dr. Merrill says she created the award because she “believe[s] it is important to be involved and to improve whatever you do, wherever you are, even if it sometimes upsets the status quo.”
Nicole’s instructors and veterinary colleagues agree that the award is a perfect fit for this dedicated veterinary student.
“Nicole is tireless in both her pursuit of compassionate care and in her desire to recruit others to the same mission,” commented Dr. Tammy Grubb, an assistant professor of anesthesiology at WSU.
Dr. Tracie Romsland, a clinical pathology resident at WSU who worked with Nicole in class, provided some additional insight on why Nicole was honored.
“Humane education should be at the forefront of the veterinary curriculum. Nicole has been very positive in her interactions and has worked hard to come up with solutions rather than just state dissatisfaction with the status quo. It makes such a difference to be able to provide possible solutions to some of the challenges we face, rather than to just criticize.”
The biggest change Nicole has been involved with is WSU’s decision to stop using colony dogs in its required veterinary courses, effective next year. Traditionally, colony dogs were used in two required courses—anesthesiology and theriogenology—and after three procedures, the dogs were euthanized.
Knowing there were more humane options that would allow students the same learning opportunities, she worked with faculty to implement alternative options. In the anesthesiology course, Nicole helped create an alternative track in which shelter dogs are anesthetized to be neutered by third- or fourth-year students, and then returned for adoption.
Dr. Grubb believes the changes will give the university “a unique chance to re-develop our laboratories with what we hope will be intellectually stimulating and effective learning modules.”
WSU has made great strides in advancing humane veterinary training by eliminating the use of colony dogs in required courses, but there are still some changes to be made. Terminal procedures are still in place in one soft tissue surgery elective course, and while the alternative of a willed body cadaver option is available to students, few select this option.
Also, Nicole believes approximately 20 shelter animals are used yearly for the freshman anatomy course, and she feels the implementation of an Educational Memorial Program (EMP) would meet the school’s need for both the anatomy and other elective courses by providing donated cadavers.
She has shared her thoughts and resources for starting a program with faculty, and while there is some support for creating an EMP, the general consensus is that it isn’t a viable option for WSU at this time.
Nicole still hopes an EMP is in the school’s future, and she plans to write her senior paper about the history of terminal surgeries and available alternatives in order to inform future vet students about other training options.
Thanks in no small part to Nicole’s perseverance, WSU has made important advancements in the humane care and treatment of animals used in veterinary training.
“She was instrumental in bringing this issue to the forefront,” asserts Dr. Romsland. “We are lucky to not only have proactive, motivated students such as Nicole, but also receptive and progressive faculty!”
The changes with which Nicole has been involved inspire hope that progress toward more humane training at WSU will continue.
Nicole Putney is a veterinary student and HSVMA student chapter representative at Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine. She will graduate in 2011.
This isn’t really an animal testing issue, but I was thrilled to find this PETA anti-fur poster with Jared Padalecki, one of the stars of Supernatural , on it. (Thanks Natasha for telling me about this! I love it!). I think PETA should run full-page ads of this in major newspapers. Aren’t Jared Padalecki’s dogs adorable? I love that one on the left — is it some kind of hound?
If you click on this link it will take you to a page where you can vote whether you would wear your dog or not, and sign a petition against (horrible) fur farms.
So — this isn’t really an animal testing issue, like my previous Supernatural animal testing reference, which I still like a lot — I was watching an episode of Supernatural, and the two main characters find a rabbit dead and strung up in someone’s living room. Instead of making a joke about it or ignoring it, one of them is appalled and says:
“Why does the rabbit always get screwed in the deal? Poor little guy.”
Isn’t that nice? Despite the fact that I was wincing at the sight of a dead rabbit and trying not to look too closely at it while hitting the fast forward button on the television remote, I was happy to see recognition of the sacrifices animals make for people acknowledged in film. I mean sure, it’s a teeny-bopper CW horror television series, but I’ll take what I can get. It’s a far cry from Veronica Mars where they seemed to always be discussing how gang members kept nailing live rats to the doors of houses owned by people they didn’t like. Actually I think that happened a total of two times but it made me uncomfortable.
I’m actually really surprised by the Supernatural pro-animal thing — I imagine when writing a horror television series the temptation to have animals be murdered/possessed/tortured must be difficult to ignore. I mean, the people are always being murdered/possessed/tortured in horror series, aren’t they? It’s probably just a matter of time . . .
