I've never heard of that being done at a high school.  That was one of the
projects for one of my daughter's college biology classes, however.  They
obtained the already euthanized cats from the shelter.  Frankly, I don't
know how she did it, because she's so much an animal lover she won't read a
book if she knows that anything bad happens to an animal in it.  I guess the
fact that they were already dead, and would have been anyway, helped her get
through it.  She was a biology major, so it made sense.  I don't like the
idea of doing it in high school.  When I took high school biology, we
dissected frogs - except that I was sick that day.

Joy

horrified >me)...about the little high school biology >class's
dissection project, each student >dissected a cat....

When my sister was in high school she took a science elective-anatomy
where they dissected a cat. I remember discussing it with her back then,
she was mean(knowing I loved my cats) and even described the markings of
the cat...I cried. They got them from some supply company...the same
place the frogs and other dissection animals came from. Students knew a
cat disection was required for the class so since it was an elective you
could choose another science instead...I took chemistry.

I took the required biology but wouldn't touch the dissection animal we
were suppose to dissect. Luckily the teacher understood and had us in
groups of 3 so only one of the group actually had to cut into the
creature the other just took the notes. I remember we did a frog and a
crayfish. An idiot boy in class thought it was funny to rub his crayfsh
covered hand in some of the girls hair(mine included). It was
disgusting. I know I learned nothing practical from the dissections.  I
can't imagine the dissection of a cat being a practical experience for
most of the students.  p

No the cats aren't raised for this.  Yes they are shelter cats that would be
euthanized in any case.  Yes, an effort is made not to use cats that are
likely to be former pets.

They are preserved in formaldehyde.

And yes there is a great deal of value in this.

When I was is high school, in advanced biology, we dissected cats.  One cat
for every two students.  Most of the students in that class were headed for
pre-med and scientific college educations.  The cats were always treated
with respect.  We separated and labeled each and every muscle and memorized
its name.  I really don't think there is any substitute for dissection in
learning anatomy.

My lab partner is now a respected surgeon.

Yes some of the students learned that they weren't cut out for medicine.
Better to learn it in twelfth grade that wait until you are in med school.

Jo

Suggestion:  write a letter to that newspapers Forum and raise the
question.  MLB

I hate to have to say that there are facilities that breed cats just for
research. I've seen ads for them in scientific research journals.

They use cats for research at the University of Minnesota. Now that the
statute of limitations has run out, I can say I... er... liberated one
of them, a beautiful long haired black female, and found a good home for
her. I couldn't save the other nine though :-(

My bet would be that the cats are euthanized at a local kill shelter,
and then sold, or given to the school to use in the classroom.

Buying them from a research breeder would be very expensive.

Somebody should start a petition; this is completely out of line for a
high school biology class. The level of anatomy for high school does not
require a higher vertebrate like a cat. Frogs are the norm for high
school dissection.

When I was in college, we used rats in the lower level class, and then
fetal pigs in the upper level anatomy class for dissection.

I simply can't imagine anyone using cats.

At the University of Minnesota, they use a lot of cats and dogs for
education (in the Medical School) and research, but while I personally
hate it, it's a way higher level of institution than a high school
biology class.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Life without cats would be only marginally worth living."
-TC, and the unmercifully, relentlessly, sweet calico kitty, Kenzie.

How you behave towards cats here below determines your status in Heaven.
- Robert Heinlein

Life is very difficult. Once you understand that, life becomes easier.
-Buddha

They come from Carolina Biological Supply Company in Burlington, NC -
the only embalmed cat supplier in the US.  They cost roughly 30-60
bucks a piece.  They are purchased from Class B animal dealers (some
of whom obtain animals under false pretenses) and from pounds, alive,
and killed on-site.  The veins and arteries are sometimes  injected
with colored latex just after death.  Carolina got busted for inhumane
killing of cats not too long ago but the case was thrown out of
court.

I have dissected these animals more than once - once in HS biology and
twice in college.  It was a waste of time and not necessary.  I did
not learn a thing that I couldn't have learned through the use of
models, simulations and software.

-L.

I also find this _very_ disturbing. I hope the article brings an end to this
practice.

In school I did crickets, frogs, and fetal pigs.  Fetal pigs didn't
bother me because living on a pig farm I had to bury dead piglets all
the time, so I was used to handling them.

I don't think I could do a cat.

I'm biased as hell, I know it.  I could eat pretty much anything else,
including dog or monkey, but I could not eat cat.  I know this is
hypocritical.

If they're going to euthanize cats at a shelter anyway, they might as
well use the bodies for scientific purposes.  In Ontario, shelter cats
are sometimes given to research instead of euthanized.  Dylan once
worked in a lab and I think the hardest thing for him was seeing those
cats and then going home to ours and wondering why ours were "special"
and those ones "weren't".  It was behind that lab that he found Kumani
and Tyche in the trashpile and we wonder, were they kittens of a lab
cat.

--Fil

I don't feel that dissecting animals is necessary unless it is part of
a subject directly related to medicine, veterinary science or surgery.
When at high school we watched our teacher dissect a rat and that was
it.

At university as part of my science degree I dissected a couple rats
and an earthworm. I would refuse to do that now, especially the rats.
The primary reason I left my previous job was because I was going to
be put into a position where I would need to kill the animals used for
these science classes at university.

Personally I felt participating or watching the dissections never
benefited my learning. I think the quality of the training and the
quality of the students would not be affected by the cessation of
dissecting animals in the undergraduate science units and at most
definitely at high school. Fortunately at my last university, no
students can be failed for refusing to dissect or even be present
during the dissection in your average biology or physiology class.

Like you, what these school students were allowed to do bothers me. I
guess I can take some small comfort that I seriously doubt cats or
dogs would be dissected at high school in Australia. There seems to be
a general move to minimise or eradicate all animal dissections at high
school. Most high school students aren't serious enough to benefit
from the dissection, and because of this it really it is a waste of
time. Heck, first year university students aren't even serious enough.

Dewi

I actually have a serious problem with this. Our high school students
are lucky if they get to see a disection of A mouse or A rat, and even
then it has to be really justified before it goes ahead. The most they
may do in their final year of high school is a pig heart from the
slaughetr house. There is plenty of software out there that simulates
the real thing - I know because I use it at least 3 times a month.

Vet students at the Royal college of veterinary students are issued ONE
cat and ONE dog at the beginning of their 5 year course. They keep it
for the entire length of their university course. Those animals come
from the US in barrels of embalming fluid, and they *ARE* euthanaised
ex-shelter animals. Which I find very sad, but try to reconcile with the
fact that they are not dying in vain because their bodies are helping
the animal doctors of tomorrow.

As for high school students doing a disection of a cat though, no child
of mine would be allowed as I really don't see the benefit, and I'm
training to be a high school biology teacher!

Helen M

I'm not sure why the newspaper felt it necessary to run a story like that
with pictures no less.  When I was 15 (I'm now 61) we disected a cows eye,
frog and fetal pig in biology class.  Back then there weren't the
computerized help aides that are available today.  Not sure I could have
handled a cat though.  I don't see the value in this type of offering at the
high school level.  My nephew is a Vet Tech, studing to be be a Vet and for
him the hands on training at the  college level was invaluable.  Medical
students work with cadavers and I'm grateful since I wouldn't want a surgeon
working on me who only used computer images to learn from.  Likewise, if my
kitty needed surgery I would want my Vet to be very well trained.  

I think what I'm hearing is how the animals are obtained.  Any animal bred
purely for the purpose of killing it is sickening......likewise animals being
stolen and mistreated just to send to "labs" for profit is a travesty.  As
much as it hurts me that any animal has to be euthanized because there's no
place for it to be loved and cared for......if it didn't give up it's fragile
life in vain, then to me it becomes a hero.