Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2009 8:47 am
As much as I am against this sort of behavior (because yes, I read the short paragraph your link had on it), once PETA has any wins like this, they feel they can go after anyone for anything. I work at a health research center that, I would guess, kills well over thousands of mice each year. In fact, my research will eventually require the deaths of probably 50 or more mice. These mice will be microwaved, yes, placed into a microwave and have a short pulse shot to their brains which will instantaneously kill them. However, most of the mice have their necks broken and heads removed, even though numerous studies show that the mice continue to have brain activity for up to ten seconds afterward. It is the nature of things ... I do disagree that the students are allowed to kill the turtles themselves (considering that if they are still walking around after, that means it was not a correct kill), but it may provide an excellent educational opportunity.
And no, I would not kill a turtle during class and would walk out upon learning of the assignment. Just like I will not be killing the mice for my experiment, and it's not my decision to use the mice either.
JAX
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