Slaughtering and killing animals for food or, in many cases, for recreation is a practice that fails the concept of humane treatment of life. Equally, or even more, horrible is the practice of inflicting long and/or severe pain on animals under the pretext of science or education. But this happens, sadly in our world, even the so-called civilized and developed parts of the world.
Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) programs are examples of such brutality wherein medical students or trainees are shown trauma inflicted on live animals as part of their education on combating trauma. The Humane Society offers fact sheets on such trainings involving traumatizing animals as illustration.
With the efforts of caring groups of people, things are gradually changing for better now. The Hartford Hospital in Connecticut recently ended its ATLS program using live animals, as reported to The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. This is good news as it implies fewer animals abused when more advanced simulations are already in use at hundreds of other facilities that teach combating trauma equally, or even more effectively.
The Physicians Committee also calls on all supporters of cruelty-free education to ask Baystate Medical Center and North Dakota State University-Sanford Health Center to switch to non-animal, humane training methods.
