Please distribute this information on campuses that use
animals in teaching!
Hundreds of thousands of animals are needlessly
experimented on, killed and dissected each year in schools and
universities worldwide. However, increasing numbers of students and
teachers are no longer willing to harm or kill animals. Ethical,
compassionate and courageous students have been the most powerful
advocates of humane alternatives, and, despite frequent faculty
opposition, their recent campaigns on several campuses around the world
have resulted in the elimination of many labs in which animals were harmed
or killed, saving hundreds of dogs, frogs, pigs, sheep, guinea pigs, mice
and rats annually.
Unlike academic staff, students campaigning for humane
alternatives cannot be fired, and students with a committed and
professional approach and access to the resources they need have proven
enormously powerful advocates of humane education in schools and
universities around the world.
Created by veterinarian Dr. Andrew Knight, who won several
major battles not to kill animals in veterinary school,
www.LearningWithoutKilling.info has just been launched to provide students
with easy access to the resources they need to win their campaigns. It
includes books on humane alternatives to harmful animal use in education,
conscientious objection student guides, lists of educational studies
proving that alternative students perform at least as well as those
trained via harming animals, alternatives submissions (that have already
been successful in ending hundreds of animal experiments at several major
universities worldwide), and the world�s largest photo gallery on the
subject, including 125 high-quality photos of animal dissection,
experimentation, surgical training, computer simulations, mannequins and
models, preserved tissues, and humane surgical training alternatives. A
memorial page contains stories from students about animals they�ve seen
harmed or killed.
Said veterinarian Dr. Knight, �As a student I refused to
participate in the mass killings of healthy animals that commonly occur
during surgical and other veterinary training. I was penalized and
threatened with failure. But I persisted, and discovered that students
with a committed and professional approach can take on their universities
and win! Since then colleagues have done the same at several other major
universities around the world, ending many labs and saving hundreds of
animal lives. I created
www.LearningWithoutKilling.info to give students around the world
access to the resources they need to win these campaigns in the face of
faculty opposition. It is my hope that new people will join the growing
international community of ethical and compassionate students unwilling to
harm animals during their education.�
Background: Life and health sciences education has
traditionally involved the harmful use of animals, and countless animals
have lost their lives in attempts to teach practical skills and
demonstrate scientific principles which have, in most cases, been
established for decades. However, at the start of the 21st century, many
thousands of humane educational alternatives exist. These include computer
simulations, videos, plasticised specimens, ethically-sourced cadavers
(obtained from animals that have died naturally, in accidents, or been
euthanased for medical reasons), models, diagrams, self-experimentation,
and supervised clinical experiences. At least 28 educational studies
covering all educational levels and disciplines have proven that students
learning via humane methods are at least as competent as those trained via
harmful animal use; indeed, 50% actually showed that humane methods
produced superior learning outcomes. Despite the overwhelming scientific
evidence, humane teaching methods are resisted in many schools and
universities around the world, resulting in fierce struggles with students
unwilling to harm animals during their education.
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