Well the Petards are tugging at the emotional heart strings of young, impressionable students yet again with their "Cut out dissection month" campaign.
From PETA2's recent newsletter:
"Millions of frogs, cats, dogs, pigs, and other animals are killed every year for dissection. Some cats and dogs are snatched by "bunchers" right out of their guardians' yards and sold to dissection companies, while others are drowned by the hundreds in barrels of water. Most people have no idea what happens to animals before they reach the dissection table, and it's time for that to change!"
Yes millions of animals are killed for dissection. Killed so people can learn about the inner workings of said animals and go on to be biologists, veterinarians etc. You know, people that HELP animals. Some of these animals died of natural causes or were put down as they were old and sick. At least their cadavors went to good use.
PETA's claim about "bunchers" seems a bit far fetched and they show no data to back it. With the number of pet owners doing bio-chips and ID tattoos on their pets I doubt the numbers are as high as PETA would love to mislead us with.
There is also no data to back up the mass drownings of these animals. How does one go about drowning a frog anyway?
Back when I was a kid in school I did dissection (or frog slicing as we called it in fun) in science class and I am grateful for it. I actually enjoyed it as it was very educational. I gained knowledge of the inside of animals that no picture book could teach me. I had "hands on" experience that was useful later in life when I took a First Aid course.
Its called learning and PETA seems to be against it. Why? It seems that their over emotionally charged brains can't seem to stomach the fact that some things die so some things can live on. Research helps us understand the way animals function. Dissection is one of the first steps. Would you want your car worked on by a mechanic that had never touched the inside of an engine? Would you want your pet treated by a vet that had never seen the inside of an animal? I think not.
It is not like science classes are using endangered species for dissection but who knows, maybe one of the students will go on to be the next biologist that helps save a species from extinction because they wanted to learn more. It starts in the labs of school. Take that away and all the kids will soon look like the dunce in the picture, clueless to their surroundings that they think they are saving.
I am not saying that all students will become veterinarians and/or biologists, but I do believe that everybody should have some basic understanding of the inside of a body. Since most animals (including humans) are laid out in basically the same pattern, cutting open a small animal helps us learn about the inner parts. Knowledge that may even be applied, that one day, it may even save a PETA member's life. I doubt that any supporter of PETA is going to care whether their surgeon gained knowledge of anantomy from dissection if it meant their own life. Then again, Petards tend to not value human life...even their own.
If you have a child in school that has been handed this PETA propaganda and told that cutting up animals is cruel please set them straight and put a stop to this nonsense. The animal is already dead...how is that cruel? The kids are learning. Yes it may be a bit gross but if you have seen (and touched) animal guts you may not be as squeamish when you need to do hep an injured person that has been in an accident.
You'll see the Petards crying like little sucky kids while a person with knowledge may help save someone until the paramedics get there. Then again, if they are wearing PETA gear you may not want to impose your "cruel" knowledge upon them and viloate their emotional principles. Your call.
Daryl Makk
