Demonstrators protest the School of Medicine for training on live animals, MU Health responds

A spokesperson for MU Health responded to the demonstrations performed on Thursday.

The protest was performed to try and get the School of Medicine to stop training students on live animals.

Back in July, the physician committee behind the rally pushed for an investigation into the school’s practices. They allege that the school is not complying with the Animal Welfare Act.

MU Health responded by saying, “Our goal at the University of Missouri is to provide our emergency medicine resident physicians the skills and procedural knowledge necessary to save the lives of our patients.”

The spokesperson said that most of the training is done with simulation but there are extremely rare instances when they need to train on animals because simulation does not adequately replicate the procedure.

“We use humane and strict protocols that are reviewed by the University’s Animal Care and Use Committee,” the spokesperson said.

The University also provides an adoption program for the animal patients.