Protests Planned Over Dog Killings At Medical College

February 26, 2007

Please crosspost asap...thanks! - Wolfman Monday, February 26, 2007 9:13 AM Protests planned over dog killings at Medical College Protests planned over dog killings at Medical

College 60 animals expected to be euthanized this week after lab exercise By SUSANNE RUSTsrust (AT) journalsentinel (DOT) com (journalsentinel.com) Posted: Feb. 24, 2007 Sixty dogs are scheduled to be killed as part of a first-year medical school physiology lab that begins Monday at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Additional labs are scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday. The Wisconsin Humane Society and the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, an animal advocacy group based in Washington, D.C., are coordinating a large protest for Monday on the medical school grounds. They will stage smaller protests for Tuesday and Wednesday. They hope to persuade medical students to opt out of the lab. "We know these students are under tremendous pressure" to

participate in the lab, said Patrick Sullivan, the Physicians Committee director of communications. Attendance at the laboratory is optional and not recorded, said Richard Katschke, associate vice president of public affairs at the Medical College. Twelve of the 204 first-year medical students have already officially opted out. The college will go into "lockdown" Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, only allowing employees, students and registered guests into the building. Some doors will be staffed by security guards, and others will be locked. "We want to accommodate the demonstrators as well as protect what's going on inside," Katschke said. Neither protest group organizers nor college officials could anticipate how many protesters might appear on Monday. A snowstorm forecast for the region could prevent some people from demonstrating, Sullivan said. "People from as far away as Minnesota and Madison have contacted

us," he said. He said the protest would be peaceful. Katschke said the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office and Wauwatosa police will be on the scene. Although many medical schools once used live dogs to teach human physiology, pharmacology or surgery, only two U.S. medical schools still do, according to the Physicians Committee: the Medical College of Wisconsin and the New York Medical College in Valhalla, N.Y. And only one of the top 20 rated medical schools - Washington University Medical School in St. Louis - still uses any live animals, according to the committee. The dog lab at the Medical College of Wisconsin is designed for students to explore the circulation system as part of a physiology course. Last year, 52 dogs were operated on while under anesthesia. The dogs were euthanized at the end of the laboratory exercise. Original Story URL:http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=570000 Patricia Breen

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