In the News.... Council ceases dog supply to UQ

Council ceases dog supply to UQ.

Newman is a nong.

However, Cr Newman today announced the moratorium would become a complete ban.

"The University of Queensland has been unable to convince me, or the other councillors, that what they were doing was in line with community expectation," he said.

He's just clueless.

But Brisbane City Council recently put an indefinite stop on its supply of dogs after the Australian Association for Humane Research* alerted Lord Mayor Campbell Newman to the practice.

and

UQ Associate Professor Lucio Filippich said the practice was an essential teaching tool.

"We believe that a student should be able to carry out routine surgeries to often save the animal's life and not do it for the first time when they graduate on somebody's pet," Mr Filippich said.

"There's no point in teaching students to be compassionate and to care for animals if we're not showing them how to do that.

"A dead animal doesn't bleed (so) you can't assess how the student has handled the tissue that's involved in the surgical procedure," he said.

Working in a university I know there are numerous hoops which have to be jumped through to be granted permission to carry out any sort of experiments, particularly on live animals. The ethical clearance is also applied to any survey or investigation carried out in the field, and sometimes surveys are not carried out because the amount of clearance required to pass the ethical board regulations is prohibitive. One chap wanted to study dingo and wild dog interaction in outer suburbs north of Brisbane. His study was abandoned because he would have had to ask every resident in the suburb for permission to carry out the study.


Oopsie.... aaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

...oh dear, multiple orgasms on the floor of parliament last night...

Oh, wait, he didn't mean like this?

* possibly should be renamed the Australian Association for No Research.

Update: National Health and Medical Research Council Animal Research Ethical Issues, and Guidelines on the use of animals for training surgeons and demonstrating new surgical equipment and techniques - September 1997
UpdateII: Another link. NHMRC Policy on the care of dogs used for scientific purposes.

Mr Newman should familiarise himself with this and not the rabid complaints of the "fluffy-bunny" protesters.

Update III: ABC PM Covered this...

MICHAEL BEATTY: In terms of actual surgery at the university, there are, if you like, they call the "virtual alternatives" that can be used. They use those extensively in England and most parts of the United States, down in Sydney as well. In much the same way as doctors do, when they're training to be surgeons, they obviously don't use live patients.

Hmm. Doctors in training do use human patients. It's called their internship. They are sent to hospitals to learn more about surgery, etc. Fortunately there are many patients for them to gain clinical/field experience with.

DONNA FIELD: But there's no happy ending for the dogs. They came from the city's pounds and while they won't undergo the surgeon's knife, they'll still be put down.

Helen Rosser from the Australian Association from Humane Research.

HELEN ROSSER: We don't believe the common excuse they're going to die anyway, so let's put them to good use. That's just a very horrific and callous attitude towards these animals. I mean, they've lost their place in society, they're lost, abandoned, and they're going to die, yes. But using pound animals for this purpose actually creates a dependence on the pet overpopulation problem, and it avoids addressing the actual problem itself.

MARK COLVIN: Helen Rosser from the Australian Association for Humane Research ending Donna Field's report.

Yes. How many humans do you think are put down because noone wants them, or they're aggressive or they're too ill to save? It's dogs we are talking about. There are extensive ethical and humane regulations in train for these animals.

It would be wonderful not to have excess animals, or animals in pounds condemned to death - but it happens and they will be destroyed uselessly.

I know of people who had their three dogs picked up by the council. They could only afford to take one back, so abandoned the other two, which were destroyed. There is a local dog rescue branch, called Brave Hearts Dog Rescue, but they cannot save every animal. And some animals are unsuitable to be rehomed.

As long a people think pets are disposable there will be abandoned, neglected or ill animals which must be put down.

Update IV: Minicapt pointed out a similarity with similation training and hands on training in the miltary. See the article here.

Update V: The ultimate annoyance and irritation is that the RSPCA has come out in support of the ban. It's inhumane to use these animals. It's better to use virtual teaching to teach surgery.
How can the RSPCA justify itself. If someone out here calls the RSPCA about a case of animal cruelty nothing happens, they're not interested unless it's a "high profile" (high publicity) case. I despise what the RSPCA has become. (I'm not talking about animal cruelty on farms, either. I'm talking fools from the city who buy 1.5 acres and think they can have a hobby farm with their little pets... and know nothing about animal husbandry.)