>On the intubation of ferrets, I am aware of this happening in Texas as
>well.  A lady who used to shelter in the Beaumont, TX, area and who was
>herself a nurse began a program to secure more humane treatment for these
>ferrets and to place them rather than euthanizing them at the end of the
>training session.  She stated that there were 3 hospitals within 10 miles
>of her location that were using ferrets like this.  So yes, ferrets are
>used for intubation training.  .
>
>Debra in Fort Worth
 
Unfortunately this is not a new thing.  I don't see it in PALS classes
but in Advanced Pediatric Life Support (APLS) , in PALS it is not
indicated.  In APLS it is geared for docs and midlevels who will be doing
the procedures in real life.  In the one I attended there were cats being
used for intubation, and piglets for the central line station.
 
The cats that survive are released to be placed in homes.  They are
sedated throughout all procedures.  They use dogs in the medical school
and rabbits in the pathophysiology lab, I am sure the list goes on and
on.  Is this right?  I don't know, I know that it used as a teaching
method so that people can practice on live animals before they get to
live humans.  The same theory goes for the lab testing for medications
and other products.  My main objection to the original post was that it
was too dramatic playing on our emotions and similar to the way PETA and
other organizations try to spin the truth on what may be a good cause.
 
I think this list is not one open for debate on these issues, but I did
want to confirm that this is not a new practice of using the animals,
ferrets, dogs, cats, monkeys, rabbits, etc, in research/training.
 
Patty
[Posted in FML issue 3866]