UPDATE, 3/7/07, via PCRM:

Dear PCRM supporter,

I am sorry to announce that, despite everyone’s determined efforts, the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) went forward with its live dog lab on Feb. 26, 27, and 28. Sadly, about 60 dogs were killed—but these animals did not die in vain. With your help, we were able to raise public awareness about the dog lab and urge the school to implement humane alternatives. MCW has felt enormous pressure to change, and our efforts will continue.

On Jan. 25, more than 100 people peacefully demonstrated in front of MCW. I was gratified to see such a huge turnout. We asked MCW to cancel the lab, and we encouraged students not to participate. We held another demonstration on Feb. 26, the day the lab began, and more than 60 people joined me in front of the school. Two smaller demonstrations, both well attended, were held on Feb. 27 and 28. For every day the dog lab took place, we were present at MCW to encourage the school to end its use of live animals. And that’s just the beginning of the many successes we have had with this campaign so far:

* To date, MCW has received more than 4,000 e-mails urging the school to cancel the live animal lab program and implement humane alternatives.

* PCRM gave MCW petitions signed by more than 550 physicians from around the country who oppose the use of animals in medical education at MCW and other medical schools.

* PCRM garnered extensive media coverage, including news coverage on local radio stations and all four Milwaukee television stations as well as numerous articles and opinion pieces in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and other newspapers.

* In January, PCRM and the Wisconsin Humane Society sponsored a billboard on a Milwaukee freeway that called on motorists to visit PCRM’s Web site about the dog lab and humane alternatives.

Now it’s time to keep the pressure on MCW. School representatives claim that MCW may replace the live dog lab with a live pig lab. Please let MCW know that using any animal in a live lab is cruel and unnecessary. Call MCW Department of Physiology Chairman Allen Cowley Jr., Ph.D., at 414-456-8277 and politely ask him to end the school’s live animal lab program. While our automatic e-mail form is temporarily out of service, you can still use the address below to send Dr. Cowley an e-mail or letter:

Allen Cowley Jr., Ph.D.
Chairman
Department of Physiology
Medical College of Wisconsin
8701 Watertown Plank Rd.
Milwaukee, WI 53226
Phone: 414-456-8277
Fax: 414-456-6546
cowley [at] mcw.edu

You can also help support PCRM’s efforts to end live animal labs at MCW and other medical schools by making an online donation today. Thanks to generous contributions from our supporters, we were able to initiate this wide-reaching campaign to convince MCW to use humane alternatives. But our work is not done at MCW or the 14 other schools that still conduct live animal labs. We need your help to continue this fight until animals are no longer killed as part of the curriculum at any medical school.

Thanks to PCRM physicians, members, our friends at the Wisconsin Humane Society, and countless others, the pressure we collectively put on MCW this year will greatly help our future work to end MCW’s live animal program. Please visit www.SaveMCWanimals.org to learn more about how you can help. If you have any questions, please contact me at rmerkley [at] pcrm.org or 202-686-2210, ext. 336. Thank you so much for your support.

Best regards,

sig_ryan_merkley

——————–

UPDATE, 2/26/07, via PCRM:

Dear PCRM supporter,

Today, Feb. 26, the Medical College of Wisconsin began the first day of its three-day physiology lab in which 60 live dogs will be used and killed. More than 60 people stood in front of the school’s main entrance and peacefully protested this cruel and unnecessary course. Although the lab has started, there is still time to make a difference if we act now.

1. Send a letter to the editor. MCW’s controversial dog lab has received extensive news coverage, including this article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Polite letters to the editor of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel can be submitted online.

2. Join PCRM physicians and members of the Wisconsin Humane Society for peaceful demonstrations at MCW. Protesters will urge students not to participate in the lab and will ask MCW to eliminate live animal labs in favor of humane alternatives.

What: Doctors lead peaceful demonstration at MCW
When: Tues., Feb. 27, 7 to 8 a.m.
Wed., Feb. 28, 9 to 10 a.m.
Location: North 87th St. at MCW’s main entrance (between Watertown Plank Rd. and Wisconsin Ave.), Milwaukee
Parking: Please use public parking on Watertown Plank Rd. or other adjacent streets. Please carpool when possible.

Signs will be provided. Please make sure to dress warmly. No RSVP is required.

3. Call MCW President and CEO T. Michael Bolger at 414-456-8225 and MCW Department of Physiology Chairman Allen Cowley Jr., Ph.D., at 414-456-8277 and politely ask them to end the school’s live animal lab. You can also automatically send them e-mails. Or, you can write them at the addresses below:

T. Michael Bolger
President and CEO
Medical College of Wisconsin
Office of the President
8701 Watertown Plank Rd.
Milwaukee, WI 53226
Phone: 414-456-8225
Fax: 414-456-6560
tbolger [at] mcw.edu

Allen Cowley Jr., Ph.D.
Chairman
Department of Physiology
Medical College of Wisconsin
8701 Watertown Plank Rd.
Milwaukee, WI 53226
Phone: 414-456-8277
Fax: 414-456-6546
cowley [at] mcw.edu

It’s crucial that we continue to urge MCW to eliminate its live animal lab course once and for all. Please forward this e-mail to your friends and family in Wisconsin and ask them to take action as well.

Please visit www.SaveMCWanimals.org to learn more about how you can help. If you have any questions, please contact me at rmerkley [at] pcrm.org or 202-686-2210, ext. 336. Thank you so much for your support.

Best regards,

sig_ryan_merkley

Ryan Merkley
Research Program Coordinator

——————–

UPDATE, 2/24/07, via PCRM:

Despite this weekend’s snowfall in the Milwaukee area, Monday’s demonstration will go forward as planned. Please drive safely and dress accordingly. We’ll see you then!

——————–

UPDATE, 2/13/07:

PCRM has scheduled a demonstration to coincide with the first day of the live animal lab.

The details:

Sixty dogs are slated to be used and killed in a live animal lab at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) in less than two weeks. Please join PCRM members and physicians for a demonstration to save these animals on Feb. 26—the day the lab is scheduled to begin. We will be joined by members of the Wisconsin Humane Society.

What: Doctors lead peaceful demonstration at MCW
When: Mon., Feb. 26, 8:15 a.m.
The lab is scheduled to begin on this day.
Location: North 87th St. at MCW’s main entrance (between Watertown Plank Rd. and Wisconsin Ave.), Milwaukee
Parking: Please use public parking on Watertown Plank Rd. or other adjacent streets. Please carpool when possible.

Signs will be provided. Please make sure to dress warmly. No RSVP is required.

Please visit www.SaveMCWanimals.org to learn more about how you can help.

——————–

Via the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine:

Help End the Dog Lab at the Medical College of Wisconsin

PCRM has stepped up our efforts to stop the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) from killing 60 dogs in a first-year physiology course later this month and end the use of animals in this course for good. PCRM sponsored a billboard in Milwaukee that gained the attention of local residents and the press, and held a protest along with the Wisconsin Humane Society outside the school.

“Don’t put man’s best friend under the knife.” That was the message of the billboard erected above Milwaukee’s Zoo Freeway urging motorists to help save the 60 dogs slated to be killed by MCW. The billboard also directed passersby to a new PCRM Web site – www.SaveMCWAnimals.org – that has complete information about the class and humane alternatives. [...]

The class involves anesthetizing the dogs, opening their chest cavities, injecting pharmaceuticals, and then killing the animals. More than 85 percent of U.S. medical schools, including Stanford, Yale, and Columbia, use humane and educationally superior alternatives. Only two U.S. medical schools still use dogs in student training exercises, and only one of the top-20 ranked U.S. medical schools—Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis—uses any live animals. Human patient simulators and other human-centered alternatives are the preferred instructional tools. The MCW campus already has four human patient simulators. [...]

Please contact the Medical College of Wisconsin’s president, T. Michael Bolger, and the chairman of the Department of Physiology, Dr. Allen Cowley, Jr., and politely urge them to immediately end the practice of using live dogs as a teaching tool. The alternatives are cheaper, more effective, and more humane. There is no longer any justification for killing animals in the name of medical education.

Click here to learn more, or here to take action.

——————–

Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare action alerts PCRM Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine animal research vivisection live dog labs dog canine Medical College of Wisconsin MCW human patient simulator

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 6th, 2007 at 1:57 pm and is filed under Action Alerts, Animals as..., from PCRM, research subjects. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.