COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) - Veterinary students at the University of Missouri will be operating on live pigs instead of dogs next year as they learn to perform surgery on animals.
The change results from a new partnership between the university's College of Veterinary Medicine and the Central Missouri Human Society.
The Columbia Daily Tribune (http://bit.ly/KLHmqk ) reports the partnership will allow veterinary students to spay and neuter shelter animals.
The school used dogs for years to teach students the basic skills for surgeries that include spaying and neutering. The surgery class is taught to third-year students before they're allowed to work in the college's medical teaching hospital.
College spokesman John Dodam says the change is being made because the institution wanted to move away from using live dogs.
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Information from: Columbia Daily Tribune, http://www.columbiatribune.com