PETA Treatens More Action In St. Kitts

BASSETERRE, St Kitts, March 19, 2008 -

The People for the Ethical Treatment of animals (PETA) made good on its threat and picketed the St Kitts-based veterinary university it has accused of mutilating animals, but promised the protests would not end there if action is not taken against the school.

Speaking as she and other members of PETA demonstrated outside the Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine on Monday, spokesperson Melissa Karpel said the group which has over two million supporters across the globe would "take the step further and continue with the message worldwide" if the relevant authorities did not launch an investigation into what was going on at the institution.

PETA has called for the accreditation process which is underway for the university owned by the Chicago-based education company, DeVry Inc., to be halted until the school abandons "teaching exercises that harm and kill animals and switches to humane, modern teaching methods, including computer models and clinical training."

It has written to the school's officials asking them to halt the alleged practices, as well as to government officials, including Attorney General Dennis Merchant and Deputy Prime Minister Sam Condor for the matter to be investigated.

"Ross University on St. Kitts is mutilating and killing dogs and other animals for needless surgical experiments and trainings, whereas many universities throughout the world and all the universities in the UK do not maim and torture animals for training purposes," she said. "So we are calling upon the attorney-general in St. Kitts to investigate and prosecute the university."

"Things that are happening here are unnecessary and are possible in violation of animal protection laws of St. Kitts."

PETA Research Director Kathy Guillermo has said Ross University must be penalized for "forcing students to harm animals in their quest to learn how to help them".