Prompted by a complaint from PETA, federal officials are investigating allegations that animals are being abused and killed in Pierce College's veterinary technology program—in violation of federal animal welfare regulations—by an instructor and her students. According to a student who blew the whistle on the abuse, faculty member Christa Slattery, who is also an animal resources supervisor in the Division of Laboratory Animal Medicine at the University of California Los Angeles, is operating a classroom laboratory without adhering to legally required guidelines for the treatment of animals. This has apparently caused unnecessary suffering and death.

The following are just some of the alleged abuses:

• Slattery seems unqualified to show veterinary technician procedures on animals. She used just one rabbit to teach all the students in a class to withdraw blood. The rabbit's ears were stuck with a needle 12 times in a single blood-collection session, far exceeding the commonly accepted maximum of four punctures.
• Slattery permitted an untrained student to attempt to trim a rat's teeth, which resulted in a severe laceration and profuse bleeding from the rat's tongue.
• Slattery forced a large mouse into a restraint tube and even suggested that the tube was too small. The severely restrained animal died within minutes. When students complained, Slattery reportedly told them, "I'd appreciate it if you guys are discreet."
• Given no direction, a student who attempted to restrain a mouse in a piece of cloth wrapped the mouse so tightly that the animal suffered a seizure.

Christa Slattery's dismissive attitude toward animals' pain and distress, her apparent failure to provide adequate instruction to and careful supervision of students who attempt to perform procedures on animals, and her overall incompetence leave animals vulnerable to neglect, mistreatment, and abuse. PETA is calling on Pierce College to fully investigate these claims and should they prove true to fire Christa Slattery and implement guidelines to ensure that animals do not continue to suffer.

Please sign the petition urging Pierce College to stop the suffering and death at its school.