Students and Teachers Step Up for Animals

'Tis the season of peace and goodwill, and students and teachers across the country are extending both to animals who would have been killed and dissected for crude biology lessons.

All too often, PETA receives complaints from compassionate middle school, high school, and college students who are faced with the daunting dilemma of whether to mutilate a dead frog, rat, or cat or receive a failing grade for standing up for animals. When we hear from these students, we quickly spring into action and contact faculty and administrators to urge them to respect the students' wishes by providing them with modern non-animal learning methods and asking them to cut out dissection altogether. 

Photo: Robert Sebree; Makeup: Chantal Moore for The Cloutier Agency

One of the ways in which PETA facilitates schools' transition to humane science teaching tools is through our TeachKind educational grant program. Teachers can apply to receive free computers, software, and models to replace animal dissection in their classrooms. Not only do these modern and effective teaching tools save animals' lives, they also help create a positive learning environment that does not exclude students because of their moral beliefs.

The following are just a few of PETA's recent successes for students and animals:

• After a high school student in Washington complained to PETA that the school was requiring students to dissect cats, we convinced school officials to drop dissection and use humane alternatives instead.
• A middle school teacher in Chattanooga, Tennessee, wanted to replace animals with a virtual dissection laboratory. PETA is making this dream a reality by donating the appropriate software to the school.
• PETA also donated software for a virtual dissection lab at a grade school in Woodlawn, Illinois, and to a middle school in Frankenmuth, Michigan, that wanted to replace frog and earthworm dissections.
• An elementary school student in Indiana contacted PETA when her teacher instructed students to capture insects, freeze them to death, and pin them to boards. Working with school officials, we got the cruel assignment nixed.

To learn how to get modern non-animal science teaching tools for your school or to help fund these lifesaving donations, visit TeachKind.org.