On Monday, the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said it was filing a federal complaint about a University of Georgia veterinary college program that trained National Guard soldiers in battlefield medicine using live goats, pigs and dogs.
UGA at first defended the program, then said that it had stopped in 2013.
Tuesday, PETA provided documentation that it said showed that the program had continued on into 2014. When asked about it at a media briefing that day, UGA President Jere Morehead said he didn’t have any information to that effect.
But Wednesday, the university released a letter from Vice President for Research David Lee to PETA confirming that the program was not, in fact, completely discontinued until last year.
We regret the miscommunication. In response to your question, the statement that the course had not been offered since 2013 was in reference to the training of military personnel. A similar course was offered to self-paying private practitioners as continuing education in the fall of 2014. The dog in question was euthanized while under anesthesia at the end of the 2014 training laboratory. This was the last time a course using the referenced protocol has been taught at UGA, and it is the only time such a course has been taught subsequent to the 2013 course for military personnel.
The University of Georgia will not use dogs for future medical readiness training provided to personnel responsible for human health.
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