Dear PCRM supporter,

Help us end the use of live dogs in a trauma training course at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor (UM). Documents obtained by PCRM under the Michigan Freedom of Information Act reveal that UM is using lost or surrendered pets—including a silver-and-black malamute named Koda—from Michigan shelters for the Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) course. At UM, this course involves cutting open live, anesthetized dogs and practicing emergency medical procedures. After the training session, the animals are killed. All of this happens even though UM owns a validated nonanimal teaching method as part of its state-of-the-art medical simulation center.

While a handful of institutions like UM continue to use live animals, the American College of Surgeons, the ATLS oversight body, has approved nonanimal models like the TraumaMan System, Synman, and human cadavers for these courses. Across the U.S. and Canada more than 90 percent of ATLS courses are taught using only human-based simulators.

Please call, e-mail, or write a letter to UM executive vice president for medical affairs Robert P. Kelch, M.D., and politely ask him to end animal use in the institution’s ATLS courses. Being polite is the most effective way to help these animals. Send an automatic e-mail today.

Robert P. Kelch, M.D.
Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs
M7324 Medical Science Building, Box 0626
University of Michigan Health System
1500 E. Medical Center Drive
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
E-mail: rkelch@med.umich.edu
Phone: 734-647-9351

On Jan. 14, 2009, PCRM filed an official complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (PDF), citing the unlawful use of live animals by UM. The complaint cites an ongoing 2007-2008 survey by PCRM, which has so far received responses from 197 U.S. and Canadian facilities offering ATLS courses. The survey has found that 180 of those facilities (more than 90 percent) exclusively use nonanimal models for instruction. In addition, the vast majority of those 180 facilities exclusively use the TraumaMan System.

Read the recent Detroit Free Press article on this issue. Learn more about the TraumaMan System and UM’s simulation center. If you have any questions, please contact me at rmerkley@pcrm.org or 202-686-2210, ext. 336. Thanks so much for your help!

Best regards,
 
Ryan Merkley
Manager of Humane Education Programs