Purdue University Kills Dogs

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.