VICTORY! College of Surgeons Pledges to Stop Mutilating Live Animals

Following a PETA campaign and efforts by our friends at Humane Research Australia, the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) has announced that it’ll phase out the use of live animals in its Early Management of Severe Trauma programme. RACS President Philip Truskett has confirmed that after looking into the development of manikins and simulators, the institution has committed to removing the animal model – in which students are made to cut holes into the throats, chests, and limbs of live pigs – from the course by 2018.

Last year, a PETA “pig” delivered a petition with more than 100,000 signatures calling for an end to live-animal trauma training to the RACS headquarters in Melbourne. Australian regulations require the use of non-animal training methods whenever available, and studies show that doctors who learn life-saving surgical skills on simulators are more proficient than those who cut open animals.

Thank you to everyone who signed PETA’s petition against this barbaric practice. Your action has saved lives.