Do you remember high school biology, when your teacher passed out dead cats for your class to dissect? Did you ever stop to ask your instructor where those cats came from?

Probably Not.

That was one of the many ethical questions Dr. Jonathan Balcombe, associate director for education, Animal Issues of the Humane Society of the United States, asked us Wednesday night. In his lecture, Dr. Balcombe stressed the need to incorporate alternatives to animal use in our education system.

Chances are, that cat you dissected came from the Carolina Supply Company, which obtains animals from random sources. One of their sources has recently been exposed for pet-theft by an ABC investigation.

“The problem with nonhuman animal use in education,” said Dr. Balcombe, “is not that there is a lack of reliable alternatives, but that students are often not aware of these alternatives, nor given an option to choose.”

This is in large part due to the fact that many of the students who are inwardly disturbed, are outwardly compliant for fear of academic failure.

If you ask yourself the same questions with regard to animals in education, there are many avenues of help available. Since its founding in 1989, 1-800-922-FROGS has handled over 100,000 calls about this issue. We invite you to join us at the next ISU Humane Society meeting, Thursday, May 1, Room 248 of the Memorial Union, 8 p.m. The topic of discussion will be puppy mills in Iowa.

I hold that, the more helpless a creature, the more entitled it is to protection by man from the cruelty of man. — Mohandas Gandhi

Jonathan Kavanaugh

Graduate Student

Electrical Engineering

CO-President, ISU Humane Society