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Live Cats Used in Cruel Training Courses at Texas Tech
  1. Signatures
    520 out of 1,000
    Petitioning
    1. ANESTHESIOLOGY- SCHOOL OF MEDICINE (+ 2 others)
      Petitioning
      close
      • ANESTHESIOLOGY- SCHOOL OF MEDICINE (James E. Heavner, DVM, PhD)
      • School Of Medicine (Steven Berk, MD)
      • Unit Manager, ANIMAL CARE AND USE COMMITTEE (Gayle Ferguson)
  2. Created By
    L. Swa_
    central, FL
About this Petition Petition Letter

THIS IS A PETA PETITION.  PLEASE GO TO THIS WEBSITE AND SIGN THEIR PETITION

https://secure.peta.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=2081

“The soul is the same in all living creatures, although the body of each is different.”--Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine.

CATS are very affectionate, and feel pain and fear just like we humans do. Cats are very small and helpless, and these procedures are cruel. The art of Medicine is also about compassion.

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) has been buying live cats (see photo-copy of a reciept) from Odessa, Texas, Animal Control for use in cruel medical training courses. PETA has filed a complaint with the university urging officials to replace the use of cats in this training with educationally superior medical simulation tools.

In training exercises led by TTUHSC faculty member James Heavner, cats are forced to undergo painful intubation procedures in which hard plastic tubes are repeatedly forced down their wind pipes by course participants. This can result in bleeding, swelling, scarring of the animals' throat tissue, collapsed lungs, and even death. In another procedure, the cats have air forced into their chest cavities so that course participants can repeatedly practice inserting a needle into the animals to remove the excess air.

The American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Heart Association, which sponsor the most widely taught pediatric life-support courses in the country, exclusively endorse the use of modern, human-like manikins, not live animals, for this kind of training. Join PETA in calling on Texas Tech to stop these cruel and outdated training procedures on cats.

Please contact Texas Tech University officials and urge them to stop these cruel training procedures on cats.

Personalized letters always work best. Feel free to use the following text, but your message will carry more weight if you write your own customized message and subject line.

This email will be sent to: 

Dr. Steven Berk, Gayle Ferguson,  Dr. James Heavner.

Please use the PETA website and fill out their Petition which will also go to:

Kent Hance, Rial Rolfe (this Change Petition can only accommodate 3 emails)

https://secure.peta.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=2081

 

Recent Signatures

Live Cats Used in Cruel Training Courses at Texas Tech

Dear Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center

“The soul is the same in all living creatures, although the body of each is different.”--Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine.

Cats are very affectionate, and feel pain and fear just like we humans do. Cats are very small and helpless, and these procedures are cruel and hurt them. The art of Medicine is also about compassion.

I was horrified to learn that TTUHSC has been conducting painful intubation training procedures in which cats have hard plastic tubes repeatedly forced down their wind pipes and also have air forced into their chest cavities so that course participants can repeatedly practice inserting a needle into the animals and removing the excess air.

Both the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Heart Association exclusively endorse the use of manikins, not live animals, for this kind of training because it more accurately represents the human anatomy and better prepares medical providers to treat sick and injured children.

I urge you to put an end to these cruel and outdated training procedures immediately.

[Your name]

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