Written by PETA
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Every year, nearly 6 million animals, including frogs, rats, pigs, and cats, are cut open in cruel, outdated dissection exercises that teach students to dismiss concerns about animal suffering.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.
Written by Karin Bennett
P.S. More pics of Steve-O's unveiling after the jump.
After a healthy amount of prodding from PETA, Heartland Regional Medical Center in St. Joseph, Missouri, has announced that it is planning to stop jamming hard plastic tubes down cats' windpipes for intubation training in its Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) course. They are making the switch to state-of-the-art manikins by the end of this month.
Back in June, PETA contacted hospital administrators and urged them to replace the cruel use of cats for intubation training. We wanted them to start using the more effective, humane humanlike simulators that are endorsed by the PALS course's sponsor organization and that are used at nearly every PALS facility in the country. Heartland resisted. But after two months, a USDA complaint from PETA, a letter, a phone call from one of the original developers of the PALS course, and thousands of e-mails from caring PETA supporters, Heartland administrators have had a change of heart.
Switching to manikins is purrfect—cats are spared, and nurses, EMTs, and other emergency caregivers get more accurate and effective training.
What's the holdup, St. Louis Children's Hospital?
Written by Alisa Mullins
Animals—from horses to birds as well as those killed for their fur, skin, and flesh—have a friend in Dan Piraro, creator of the wonderfully offbeat internationally syndicated cartoon Bizarro.
Now Dan has stepped up for cats used in excruciating (and scientifically inferior) pediatric intubation training at St. Louis Children's Hospital. Trainees who are enrolled in the Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) course at the facility repeatedly force plastic tubes down cats' windpipes. This painful procedure often causes bleeding and swelling in the tissues of the cats' throats and can also lead to scarring, collapsed lungs, and even death! Manikins and advanced simulators have proved superior to the use of animals for intubation training, and the sponsor of the PALS course, the American Heart Association (AHA), exclusively recommends the use of these humane methods—not animals—for this training. The AHA has also distanced itself from the few facilities such as St. Louis Children's Hospital that continue to use animals in PALS.
Dan, a former student at Washington University in St. Louis (which offers the PALS course in conjunction with St. Louis Children's Hospital), has fired off a letter to the editor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, writing, "It doesn't take a medical degree to recognize that practicing intubation on a limp cat is nothing like doing the same procedure on a larger, crying, squirming and/or coughing human child." And to make that point even clearer, he included this cartoon:
Definitely worth a thousand words! But you don't have to be an artist to tell St. Louis Children's Hospital that "first, do no harm" should include our feline friends—all you have to do is click here.
Written by Jeff Mackey
Oscar-nominated, Emmy-winning actor—and animal defender extraordinaire—Woody Harrelson might have played the laid-back Carson Wells in No Country for Old Men, but he was almost as mad as his controversial character Mickey Knox when he learned about deadly medical training exercises involving cats at Texas Tech.
Homeless cats at the Odessa animal shelter—just a stone's throw away from the star's birthplace in Midland—are purchased by the university's Health Sciences Center and then abused and killed in medical training exercises. Faculty members and trainees force plastic tubes down the cats' throats and stab needles into their chests for procedures that invariably result in pain and death for the animals. Both the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Heart Association exclusively endorse the use of modern, human-like manikins—not live animals—for this kind of training in their courses.
Here's part of Woody's letter to Texas Tech President John Baldwin:
Harming and killing shelter animals for these exercises is unjustifiable, especially as realistic manikins that more accurately represent human anatomy and better prepare medical professionals to treat injured and sick children are readily available. . . . I and countless others around the state are deeply discouraged to learn that Texas Tech is taking advantage of the tragic abundance of abandoned animals.
Cheers to Woody for speaking out against these cruel exercises. Wood you (ouch) join him in protesting these cruel, outdated procedures?
PLEASE NOTE: There's a picture below that is very disturbing, but for people who are concerned about animal suffering and homelessness, it's important to face the tragic reality of the overpopulation crisis and its consequences. Animals can't afford to have people look away.
Her name was Big Girl, but there was almost nothing left of her. She was so still, so slight, and so cold to the touch that field workers thought that she was already dead. But the tiny 6-month-old pit bull was still alive. Barely.
Big Girl never knew the love and care that we wish every dog experienced; by the time we arrived, she had endured prolonged, incomprehensible agony. When we found her collapsed on the ground, she weighed less than the chain she was tied to. She had clearly been starved—she was a pile of bones and had raw, mostly hairless skin with absolutely no body fat. A veterinarian later told us that Big Girl's stomach contained nothing but dirt, leaves, a piece of corn cob with two kernels on it, and a piece of dry, caked fecal matter. Big Girl had been left to suffer for so long that she had begun to decompose. Four different generations of maggots were eating away at her body. When we gently peeled her off the ground, she moaned. She could not see us or hear us, but we hope she knew that we were there to help her.
We sent Big Girl off to heaven with kind words and a gentle lethal injection. We wished we could have ended her misery much, much sooner. Those who condemn open-admission animal shelters and organizations like PETA for having to euthanize sick, injured, dying, and unwanted animals must look closely at the source of the overpopulation crisis—people who breed animals, those who neglect and abuse them, and consumers who choose to buy animals from breeders and pet shops instead of adopting from their local animal shelter.
No one hates the ugly reality of euthanasia more than the shelter workers who hold the syringe. Sometimes, especially when animals have known no kindness and are suffering, the best that we can offer an animal like Big Girl, Asia, and others is a painless and dignified release from a world that showed them no love or compassion.
P.S. The man responsible for Big Girl's horrific condition (as well as that of another dog, who suffered from a vaginal prolapse) was charged and convicted for the condition of both dogs, and he was prohibited from owning animals.
Thanks for all your wonderful comments on this Win It Wednesday. The winner of the Drinkwell Pet Fountain is Taylor Loscialpo, along with Poopy the cat. Congratulations!
As summer approaches, humans aren't the only ones drinking more water. Our feline friends are sweating too, even if it is only through their paws, and we have a fun way to keep them hydrated and happy: the Drinkwell Pet Fountain.
In nature, wild cats drink from running streams, so why should their domesticated brothers and sisters have to drink from a stagnating puddle? This water fountain for cats keeps the water moving, which encourages persnickety kitties to drink more and helps them stay healthy.
How do you win? Tell us how your kitty companion changed your life for the better. The most heartfelt comment takes home the prize.
The contest ends on May 20, 2009, and we'll choose the most touching story as the winner on May 22, 2009. Be sure to read our privacy policy and terms and conditions, as you're agreeing to both by commenting. Check back every Wednesday for new prizes. Good luck!
Written by Lianne Turner
Apparently, puppy-food pâté is posh. Ready to get your laugh on? In a recent study that’s sure to make all of those hoity-toity types who still feed on foie gras choke on their canapés, researchers found that most people can’t tell the difference between dog food and "delicacies."
In a blind taste test, participants were given five food samples that included foie gras, pâté, liverwurst, Spam, and dog food. They were then asked to pick which one was the Fido fodder. Of the eighteen participants, only three were able to identify the dog food!
Can I get a “woof, woof”?! And of course some help banning this cruel product ...
Written by Amy Elizabeth
Many of us have trouble envisioning a world without iPods, iPhones, and other iAwesome ways to connect with each other and listen to tunes, but Apple has really outdone itself this time. The new iPhoto face-recognition software that comes in the new iLife package for Mac computers is designed to make tagging photos in your library much quicker. You tell it who a person is, and it automatically goes and finds other pictures of that person and tags them with his or her name. Pretty incredible as is, right? But here's the coolest part—it also works for cats!
Now, you and I know that every cat is a unique and special individual, but who knew that the folks at Apple were cat people, too? We're so pleased at Apple's acknowledgment that cats are members of the family that we're sending Apple a certificate of recognition today.
You can show your love for Apple, too, by posting a comment below.
Written by Christine Doré
First there were sea kittens. Now, I give you sea puppies:
Volkswagen's commercial for the new SpaceFox car shows a half-dog, half-fish animal and his loving guardian. We think it's sweet that this "sea puppy" (as I like to call him) is his human's best friend, and it even reminded us a little of our campaign! The sea puppy reminds viewers that fish have personalities, just like dogs—even if they aren't so great at playing fetch. And that's why we are nominating Volkswagen for a Glitterbox Award! Glitterbox Awards are given to companies that portray animals in a positive manner, and we think VW is quite deserving in this case.
We know that dogs and fish both need love, so it's awesome that Volkswagen can encourage the world to think of them as intelligent creatures who can be part of the family—not part of dinner.
Awesome news for animals today! For more than a year, commissioners of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, have been in debates over improvements to their animal control ordinance, and we are so very excited to announce that last Tuesday the animal-friendly bill was approved by a 4-0 vote. The county hereby bans cat and dog sales at pet stores (yay!) and goes one step further to give farm animals better living conditions (double yay!). Of course there are a few exceptions, but you can read about the specifics of the ordinance here.
This means that those awful pet stores won't be allowed to sell cats or dogs anymore, and breeders who try to make a profit off kittens and puppies won't have it so easy either. It's just too bad that Joe Biden didn't get the memo …
The new bill cuts the license fee in half for a spayed or neutered animal companion and bans the chaining of backyard dogs! But wait, there's more! Not only do the good people of Bernalillo County care about companion animals, but the legislation states that animals on farms must be given food, water, veterinary care, and shelter. Seems pretty basic, but now it's the law.
Possibly the coolest thing about this legislation is the fact that the changes were made because of regular people. Commission Chairman Alan Armijo said, "We've had tons and tons of input. The commissioners have tried to accommodate the different points of view," and an audience of about two dozen people cheered the amendment's passage. Know what that means? Anyone can do it! Seriously. You can contact your legislator right now and make a real difference in the lives of animals all over your district!
Well, what're you waiting for? Visit HelpingAnimals.com for more info. The animals (and PETA) thank you!
If you have a general question for PETA and would like a response, please e-mail Info@peta.org. If you need to report cruelty to an animal, please click here. If you are reporting an animal in imminent danger and know where to find the animal and if the abuse is taking place right now, please call your local police department. If the police are unresponsive, please call PETA immediately at 757-622-7382 and press 2.
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