HUMANE TREATMENT OF ANIMALS USED IN RESEARCH 249 
I watched a student in his first year of medical school suture up a dog’s rib 
cage with a ball of actually dusty dime-store twine that he took from the shelf 
of a cabinet. His answer to my query about the septic condition was — “what 
does it matter, he won’t live anyhow.” The dog had been used for a heart-lung 
experiment. 
In 4 months at the school, there was not one survivor of the operation at a 
rate of three per week. Why? The animals used were received directly from 
a dealer who steals them — she explained about this later. 
A collar was left on one once, and I traced the license to a man in Missouri 
from whom the animal had been stolen. 
The animals here are not conditioned in any way preoperatively. Their 
state of nutrition is unbelievably poor. They are so pale from loss of blood 
from hookworms and from other parasites that they cannot possibly stand the 
shock of major surgery, much less major butchery. 
This experiment is supposed to simulate human conditions. But a human 
in such condition is never subjected to such surgery. 
The results of these procedures are completely invalid, as the conditions are 
terribly unfavorable. No postoperative care is given, no antibiotics. 
I watched a doctor — and when I say doctor I mean Ph. D., not M.D., or 
D.Y.M. — none of these men were actually medical doctors — I watched them take 
the only survivor they ever had as long as I was there and forced that weakened 
animal to get up and run, not walk but rim, down a corridor, not 12 hours after 
he was operated upon. 
I watched those men jam, and I mean jam and not insert, as we are taught 
to, a great trocar through the dog’s side into his pleural cavity. 
And then she talks about the wire cages, the length of the dog’s nails. 
Many nails grew completely around and into the grown foot. One puppy there 
had finally chewed his foot off to free it from the wire cage. He died 2 days 
later, his leg swelled like a balloon. 
She goes on and tells that she heard a dealer tell the kennelman how 
he had acquired some of his dogs. He acquired them from different 
States, she said, and they were shipped for a considerable distance. 
He used to lead the bitches in season down alleys at night behind the truck 
and snatch any male which came after them. 
I am now investigating a case of a man who steals dogs. 
Margo was asked to leave, withdraw from the university, after this 
article was published. She said the article was discussed, but the uni- 
versity told her it was not the reason for her being asked to withdraw. 
I wrote the university and received a letter back. It was on stationery 
without the school’s letterhead — it seemed to be a carbon. They said 
she was asked to withdraw because her records were incomplete — but 
she had been at the school for a considerable time. 
After that, I did not publish any students’ names. I did not think 
it was fair to the students. I did not want any of them dismissed 
from school. 
I would like to submit some of the letters that we received from stu- 
dents from veterinary schools, plus this issue with Margo’s article, 
please. 
Mr. Roberts. We will grant you that permission. 
(The letters and article referred to follow :) 
LETTER FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO 
February 1960 
Our family has always owned dogs, and they have done some nice winning 
at trials and shows. We have subscribed to Popular Dogs for a long time. My 
mother, who gets Popular Dogs, said you told her you would not publish my 
name, but she told you do not pay attention to unsigned letters. 
I am not saying anything about the experiments on dogs and other animals, 
all sizes, as some of the tests might help in some way, but no one seems to care 
