March 26, 2008
Members of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) are planning to protest outside the Edison, New Jersey, offices of Ross University President Thomas Shepherd on Wednesday over the reported surgical mutilation and killing of animals in laboratories at the Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine in St Kitts.
PETA has written to officials at Ross — which is owned by Chicago-based DeVry, Inc. — outlining students’ objections to performing multiple surgeries on the same animal and explaining that other veterinary schools have switched from using animals to modern, humane alternatives.
Shepherd and the government of St Kitts and Nevis have so far failed to take action in repsonse to PETA’s allegations.
PETA is calling on Ross to replace cruel and archaic experiments on dogs, goats, and other animals with computer-assisted training, simulators, and other modern, non-animal methods used at other veterinary schools.
“Ross veterinary students are forced to cut open dogs’ stomachs and other organs, sever donkeys’ nerves and ligaments, and conduct other unnecessary procedures on animals before they kill them,” says PETA Research Director Kathy Guillermo. “Ross should be teaching students how to heal animals — not mutilate and kill them.”
PETA is also reportedly calling for a travel boycott to St Kitts and Nevis until the allegations are investigated and properly resolved. A Ross University student is also said to be suing the veterinary school