Innocent rabbits and sheep are dying at the hands of emergency medicine residents at Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC). They need your help!
During the training, participants cut into a rabbit's or sheep's chest to learn how to insert a breathing tube. In other sessions, residents crack open the animal's breastbone and insert needles into the chest to remove fluid surrounding the heart. At times, they even drill holes into the poor animal's skull! The procedures continue even if the animal dies on the operating table - and if any animal manages to survive the invasive procedures, they are still killed!
Training on live animals is not only cruel, but also ineffective given the anatomical differences between rabbits, sheep, and humans. In fact, 91% of surveyed emergency medicine residency programs in the United States and Canada use only non-animal and human-relevant training methods.
Rabbits and sheep don't deserve to suffer like this!
If you agree, sign the petition below to Hennepin County Medical Center. Urge them to stop this outrageous animal cruelty NOW!
To: Jon L. Pryor, M.D., M.B.A., and Emergency Medicine chair James Miner, M.D., F.A.C.E.P.
Please modernize and humanize medical training at Hennepin County Medical Center by ending the use of live animals for training emergency medicine students.
As you know, at Hennepin County Medical Center, emergency medicine students are instructed to practice medical procedures on live rabbits and sheep, and all the animals are killed when the training is over.
This practice is inhumane and unnecessary. I urge you to switch to more effective, animal-free methods. These widely available, human-relevant training methods allow trainees to repeat procedures and hone their skills.
HCMC's is already in a small minority in the United States, as 89% of surveyed emergency medicine residency programs in the U.S. have switched to non-animal methods.
To ensure that future emergency physicians are receiving educationally and ethically superior training methods, please end the use of animals immediately.
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Sincerely,
[Your Name]
