Petition: Don't force our children to skin cats

[crazy4strays]

I thought that this would be a petition that many of our members would support. A children's biology class is being forced to dissect cats. 

https://www.change.org/p/don-t-force-our-children-to-skin-cats

 

[donutte]

 
I thought that this would be a petition that many of our members would support. A children's biology class is being forced to dissect cats. 

https://www.change.org/p/don-t-force-our-children-to-skin-cats

Omg. I actually wasn't even allowed to take biology (by my parents) because of this kind of thing, although I don't think they used cats at my school. that's awful! Poor kids!

 

[pushylady]

That's disgusting. They shouldn't be forced to dissect any kind of animal if they don't want to. There's no need for it.

 

[kitty kisser]

You think plastic models would be cheaper in the long run. My biology class did it also though. We had a bucket of animals to discect it was gross.

 

[kittens mom]

The only place for dissection of an animal is through vet tech school or actual veterinary college.

I suggest you start a petition to dissect dead puppies. That will bring the whole thing to a screeching halt quicker than trying to explain why children should not be dissecting a common household pet.

 

[Willowy]

I think everybody should be allowed to opt out of dissection if they prefer. That's not something anyone should be forced to do. But I don't see a problem with dissecting cats. They are killed in shelters because nobody wants them, might as well get some use out of the body. I hope the teacher at least explains that the cats were killed because of human irresponsibility. That would be a pretty good lesson.

 

[denice]

I think everybody should be allowed to opt out of dissection if they prefer. That's not something anyone should be forced to do. But I don't see a problem with dissecting cats. They are killed in shelters because nobody wants them, might as well get some use out of the body. I hope the teacher at least explains that the cats were killed because of human irresponsibility. That would be a pretty good lesson.

I don't really have a issue with it as optional.  I think it really only has a legitimate place in the advanced college prep courses not in the Biology 101 that a lot of high school kids take.

It isn't just dissection that they are used for.  Live animals are also used in drug trials, some of which would upset many people.  The Purevax 3 year rabies vaccine was held up for several years because of an issue with the animal trials.  One of the cats in the control group didn't contract rabies so the results of the first trial was thrown out.  That means that there was a second trial where kitties were exposed to rabies to bring a new better vaccine to market.

 

[misterwhiskers]

We did this in high school, but that was in the 70s. How horrible.

 

[Willowy]

It isn't just dissection that they are used for.  Live animals are also used in drug trials, some of which would upset many people.  

It states in the high school supply catalogs (I've seen them myself) that the cats they use are acquired from animal shelters where they were killed because of overpopulation. They aren't running experiments on the animals, they aren't killing the animals for dissection. The shelter has a supply of dead cats, they simply send them to the school instead of to the landfill.

 

[margd]

Many years ago, in advanced placement biology in HS, I dissected a cat. To my horror, she was pregnant. The result was that although I knew I wanted to study a life science, I went into botany.

 

[paiger8]

Many years ago, in advanced placement biology in HS, I dissected a cat. To my horror, she was pregnant. The result was that although I knew I wanted to study a life science, I went into botany.

I would have cried.

I dissected a worm and a frog in biology, but I chose to sit outside the class during the fetal pig dissection. I was able to do a research paper to make up for the grade.

It's one thing to dissect worms, or amphibians ... but I don't agree with intelligent animals being created to get dissected in a high school class and thrown away. It's one thing if they are actually raised humanely to eat, but there's no point in killing hundreds of baby pigs, so a high school class can cut them apart.

I've never heard of dissecting a cat. That is inhumane and awful. What are we teaching children, when we use household pets as science projects? This basically shows kids that cats are lesser creatures. 

 

[Willowy]

The fetal pigs are acquired from slaughterhouses, as some of the female pigs are pregnant when slaughtered for meat. Again, they do not create and then kill the animals just for dissections.

 

[paiger8]

That makes me feel a bit better @Willowy. 

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Went there, signed that...and left the following comment:

There are wonderful virtual dissection programs available for computers.  Students using these programs consistently score higher on tests than those who actually dissected an animal.  To continue dissecting in our schools in the face of this fact is nothing short of barbaric.

 

[zed xyzed]

signed !!

these were my comments "Dissecting companion animals is wrong, how about get with the times and use computer simulations. What you are doing is traumatizing many young people. Shame on you!! If the student was at veterinary school this    might be appropriate, but for high school this is absurd and cruel"    

 

[kittens mom]

Acceptable specimens for a biology class would be the formaldehyde frog and the fetal pig. If a student is enrolled in advanced classes then anything beyond that should be handled at the nearest university or vet tech program.

I had no problem myself with the dead frog. I did flat out refuse to dissect the worm since they were alive while doing it.

I think all of us are aware that the cat was not copped off the street and sold to a body broker for the sole purpose of dissection. The real question here is it right to call them family members in one moment and then expect a child to emotionally deal with the idea cutting apart said animal. And I would argue no. 3-D computer models are going to actually show in better detail how the body of an organism works.

I hold my ground on this one. If children were being asked to dissect a puppy it would be national news and public outrage.

 

[nansiludie]

This is downright disturbing. I see no point in High School students having to do this sort of thing. If this were a college course, as others have pointed out, yes, then in that case. But to do this to a group of students who most likely will not even be going into the medical field, especially for animal health, is outright insane. I am not sure why it is allowed in High Schools. I do agree with the other posters, as a yr or two back there was a dog study used as a live but sedated animal class which ended up all over the internet, news etc and it was not to be done again. I sure hope this sort of thing doesn't make others treat cats cruelly, especially strays/ferals.

 

[laura h]

I was forced to dissect a worm, a frog, and a fetal pig in high school.(90's)  We could not sit out, or risk a 0 for that unit. In Advanced Bio we dissected a ferret. It was that unit that made me decide not to go into the sciences in college. Because our adv. bio teacher was talking about having to dissect a human leg as a freshman in college since we were in college level already. I'd never make it through cutting a human.

I think it's inhumane and there are more effective ways of teaching children biology. You'd think with today's technology, dissection would be a thing of the past.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

I have dissected a cat (while a nursing student).  No it was not pleasant; but definitely have a better understanding of my cats anatomy for it  I talked with someone about my feelings and she said to look at it as learning from this cat would help me help other cats.  So my lab partner (my BFF) and I did what we had to do.  I eventually changed majors; but it did turn out to be helpful in understanding the girls anatomy in the various health issues they have encountered over the years.  It was also different than I expected.  I think I just pushed the thought that it was a cat to the side and focused on the assignment.  

I don't see why a high school level course has to use them vs another animal.  I don't believe my high school used anything other than pigs, a squid and mice; but I chose not to take that class (an advanced placement class).  That being said; there really is something different about learning with a specimen vs an illustration (computer or otherwise).  I just don't see the need for it to be a cat at that educational level.  If the course were one that gives college credit (some do) then yes I could see more advanced dissections such as this being included even though it is in a high school. 

We used a number of preserved specimens in the courses I took.  Our frogs were live and then released to an appropriate location.  I couldn't tell you if the anatomy of a fetal pig vs a cat is comparable to human anatomy.   As much as the thought of dissections is unpleasant; there is a place for it in education.  I found when facing the specimens; it was much less emotionally involved than I expected.  The only difficult one was the cat; probably because I was the only "whole" animal used.  Otherwise there was no emotional connection.  Being a nursing student; I was sure I would encounter much worse in the real world.  

 

[Kat0121]

 
This is downright disturbing. I see no point in High School students having to do this sort of thing. If this were a college course, as others have pointed out, yes, then in that case. But to do this to a group of students who most likely will not even be going into the medical field, especially for animal health, is outright insane. I am not sure why it is allowed in High Schools. I do agree with the other posters, as a yr or two back there was a dog study used as a live but sedated animal class which ended up all over the internet, news etc and it was not to be done again. I sure hope this sort of thing doesn't make others treat cats cruelly, especially strays/ferals.

I agree. I saw this petition. The girl who was named in the petition tole her mom this when letting her know what had happened at school (copied word for word from the email I got from Change.org about the petition):

“Mom, they want me to skin and dissect a CAT,” she told me. “The teacher told us if we have a black cat at home, pick a white cat and vice versa. Like the color of their fur changes how I feel about ripping the fur from a cat who—no matter what—will remind me of my baby Sparta!”

I understand that  there are circumstances where a student could benefit from dissecting an animal but I think that that should be limited to the college level only and only when the student is studying veterinary medicine in some capacity. The majority of students are repulsed by this (except for teenage boys who use it as an excuse to prove to everyone how "manly" they are becoming 

) and they don't really benefit from it in any way as most of them will not do anything with what they have learned down the line. 

When I was a kid, we dissected frogs (already dead) and that was bad enough. We were allowed to opt out with a note from a parent. To tell any kid that they have to do this regardless of their feelings or beliefs in this day and age is outrageous. There would be hell to pay if any teacher threatened my kid with a zero if she told me that she couldn't do this and asked me to write her a note. My DD has been a cat lover since birth (like me) and she couldn't do this any more than I could. There's no way I'd stand by and let anyone force her to. I forwarded the petition to PETA. If anyone can drum up more signatures for this, they can.