ST. LOUIS (AP) - A legendary game show host is joining in the effort to convince Washington University in St. Louis to stop using live cats in medical training.
Former "The Price is Right" host Bob Barker sent a letter to Chancellor Mark Wrighton, offering $75,000 to buy mannequins for the infant life support course. Barker is a longtime animal rights supporter who was married in St. Louis.
The life support course includes voluntary practice on sedated cats to simulate the insertion of breathing tubes down the throats of critically ill infants.
St. Louis Children's Hospital pediatrician Bob Kennedy told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (http://bit.ly/12K7DfD ) that high-tech mannequins are not an adequate substitute for living, breathing cats. He says no cats have been injured in more than 20 years of the training program.
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Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, http://www.stltoday.com