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Class Dissection Of Live Dog Outrages Parents, Students

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LoKyBuckeye

LoKyBuckeye

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Class Dissection Of Live Dog Outrages Parents, Students
Student: 'It Just Makes Me Sick...'

http://www.local6.com/news/4480144/detail.html

POSTED: 8:12 am EDT May 12, 2005
UPDATED: 7:57 am EDT May 13, 2005

A biology class lesson in Gunnison, Utah involving the dissection of a live dog has outraged some parents and students, according to a report.

"I thought that it would be just really a good experience if they could see the digestive system in the living animal," Biology teacher Doug Bierregaard said.

Biology teacher Doug Bjerregaard, who is a substitute teacher at Gunnison Valley High School, wanted his students to see how the digestive system of a dog worked.

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Bjerregaard made arrangements for his students to be a part of a dissection of a dog that was still alive.

The dog was still alive, but the teacher said it was sedated before the dissection began.

With the students watching, the sedated dog's digestive system was removed.

"It just makes me sick and I don't think this should go on anywhere and nobody's learning from it," student Sierra Sears said.

The teacher said the lesson would allow students to see the organs actually working.

"I thought that it would be just really a good experience if they could see the digestive system in the living animal," Bierregaard said.

The school's principal, Kirk Anderson, said notifications went to parents explaining the dog was going to be euthanized and that the experiment would be done with the dog's organs still functioning.

The teacher is standing by his decision and calls it the ultimate educational experience.

Principal Anderson said he supports the lesson and it will be allowed to continue because the students are learning.

The dog used in the experiment was going to be euthanized despite the class project.

Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.

Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 
Wow. That's just... Wow. If he want the kids to see live organs, why doesn't he just take them to a butcher shop and let 'em take a peek at the gut buggy? I worked at a butcher shop for a while, and have seen all of that stuff. There isn't anything these kids are seeing that they can't learn from a book.
 
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Science is my career, and I think this is patently disgusting. If the animal is really sedated as he claimed, then nothing works like it does when it is functioning in an "awake" animal anyway. If the animal isn't really sedated....the teacher should proceed to jail.
 
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Well Bucklion -- Science & Eng is my metier, and I can tell you that the teacher was completely in the wrong.

A -- What he did was vivisection, not dissection.
B -- If he wanted the kids to see the live organs actually there were more imaginative approaches that might be taken -- such as live imaging of the dog at a local MRI or other similar facility, use of endoscopy in a veterinarian's office are two options that come to mind. He could have run these exercises as field trips.
C -- He could have had such work presented to the class in the form of one of the excellent scientific films showing the internal working of the intestine. Again without the need for any in-class vivisection or dissection.
 
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The dog was going to die anyway, so I think it was a fine idea and a rare and special chance to see the inner workings of an animal similar to ourselves in action.

Similarly, the best way for the children to understand how organs function would be for them to observe the live functioning of human organs. As there are some people on death row that are going to be euthanized anyway, dissection of these people by kids in biology class would serve as a great learning opportunity. For that matter, any person in a coma or otherwise "unaware" who will soon be disconnected and die would also serve this purpose well.
 
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I got a comment on my post:

"Ugh, disagree pretty violently here, and I'm certainly a science/education first type. Guess the bottom line for me is that there are far more creative and humane ways to educate HS students on this front. Not even med students require this sort of"

LOL. I was attempting to post satire, pointing out the inhumanity of the action by taking the reasoning (the dog was going to die anyway) to the extreme, i.e., with humans.

:P :)
 
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