PETA Global 2018 Issue 3

E very year, millions of frogs, piglets, sheep, fish, cats, and other animals are cut up and disemboweled in crude classroom exercises. But how did they go from alive and kicking to being specimens on the dissection tray? A PETA eyewitness investigation of Bio Corporation – a Minnesota company that sells animals to schools across the US – revealed that animals are killed specifically for dissection and often in prolonged and excruciatingly painful ways. PETA is out to end this archaic, cruel practice by pushing schools to use only modern, non animal teaching methods.

Live Birds Lowered Into Vats of Water Workers at Bio Corporation submerged crates full of live pigeons in tubs of water to drown them, a killing method that the American Veterinary Medical Association calls “inhumane” and “unacceptable.” A veterinarian who watched PETA’s video footage wrote that their deaths could have taken up to 10 agonizing minutes while panicked birds hyperventilated, struggled to keep their heads above water, and endured painful airway spasms before finally losing consciousness and going into cardiac arrest.

Crayfish Injected With Latex Live crayfish were injected with liquid latex while they were fully conscious – which, according to veterinarian Dr. Ingrid Taylor, would likely have caused them prolonged pain and suffering as their tissues were deprived of oxygen and they slowly suffocated. Turtles Frozen and Refrozen Turtles were shipped frozen to Bio Corporation, but staffers reported that they would sometimes “come back to life” and were then frozen a second time while fully conscious. According to Clifford Warwick, one of the world’s leading authorities on herpetology, “[F]reezing as a method of killing reptiles (including turtles) without prior complete desensitization and unconsciousness (e.g. anaesthesia) has been specifically declared inhumane and unacceptable.”

Who Are Pigeons?

Cat: © iStock.com/Peeter Viisimaa

Frog: © iStock.com/Antagain • Pigeon: © iStock.com/suriya silsaksom

Pigeons aren’t just “biological specimens.” Keenly intelligent, they can identify humans by appearance and behavior. They can also quickly learn to recognize each of the 26 letters of the English alphabet and are able to distinguish among dozens of words. In a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , researchers found that pigeons can even determine whether a word is real or made-up. These physics phenoms navigate by sensing the Earth’s magnetic field as well as low-frequency radio waves, giving them their own internal GPS system. They’ve also been shown to understand the concept of probability, the first nonprimate to do so. Pigeons are also models of fidelity. They mate for life, and both parents take turns devotedly caring for their young. On top of all that, they’re war heroes. Tens of thousands of pigeons were maimed or killed during World War I as they crossed battle lines delivering vital messages. They were the first recipients of the UK’s Dickin Medal for animals, because they contributed to the rescue of thousands of soldiers. . I

Based on PETA’s evidence and an investigation by local police, 25 counts of cruelty to animals were filed against Bio Corporation. But the charges were dropped after Dr. Carol Cardona, a veterinarian at the University of Minnesota, made statements defending the cruel practice of drowning birds. PETA has filed a complaint asking the University of Minnesota to investigate Cardona for her false and profoundly irresponsible statements and has also filed complaints against her with the Minnesota Board of Veterinary Medicine and the American College of Poultry Veterinarians. Pigeons were drowned, an “unacceptable” killing method, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association.

Studies show that advanced, non-animal methods – such as interactive software programs and anatomical models – teach students biomedical concepts as well as or better than cutting up dead animals. They allow students to practice material to the point of proficiency, and they’re more cost-effective. They’ve been used by top medical schools, including Yale and Harvard, for years. TeachKind, PETA’s humane education division, is attending and speaking at school board meetings in Bio Corporation’s customers’ districts, urging the boards to replace all animal dissection with these advanced methods. George Fox University and the Council Rock School District in Pennsylvania have already cut ties with Bio Corporation. And PETA UK has created a teachers’ guide detailing the numerous benefits of switching to superior, animal-free tools and listing many free resources available to educators.

WHAT PETA FOUND INSIDE A DISSECTION SUPPLY COMPANY Pigeons Drowned, Live Crayfish Injected With Latex, Turtles Frozen to Death

Take Action Now Parents , speak out against using animals as teaching “tools,” and urge your local school

board to ban dissection. Teachers , pledge not to use animals in your classroom, and urge your school to switch to modern teaching methods. Students , visit peta2.com/DissectionKills to learn how to say no to dissection.

Bytes Not Blades The deaths that animals are subjected to at Bio Corporation are not only torturous but also pointless.

Global 17

16 CUT IT OUT