Veterinary Medical Schools

Following the list of information, there is a section on literature that is either referred to or is relevant to the subject of veterinary medical schools and their policies or programs relative to humane education.

If you are aware of other information you believe to be important to include here – current information on a particular school’s program regarding humane education methods or potential issues in this regard – please send the information to HEVM. It will be researched, and if relevant and verified, will be included here.


The following includes literature or other information cited above or which is relevant to the issue of humane education at veterinary medical schools in general. The titles are linked either to a publicly available copy of the document or to a digital object identifier.

  • Animalearn U.S. Veterinary Medical Schools Offering Alternatives
    • From their site: “compilation of schools that offer alternatives in either some or all of the core or elective courses”
  • Blom, H.; Wolschrijn, C.; den Harton, I. and Wittevrongel, C. 2011. “New replacement alternatives used for training students in veterinary medicine in the Netherlands.” ALTEX WC8 Abstracts:215.
  • Dale, Vicki H.M.; Johnston, Pamela E.J. and Sullivan, Martin. 2003. “Learning and teaching innovations in the veterinary undergraduate curriculum at Glasgow.” Journal of Veterinary Medical Education 30(3):221-225.
  • Gopinath, Deepa; McGreevy, Paul D.; Zuber, Richard M.; Klupiec, Corinna; Baguley, John and Barrs, Vanessa R. 2012. “Developments in undergraduate teaching of small-animal soft-tissue surgical skills at the University of Sydney.” Journal of Veterinary Medical Education 39(1):21-29.
    • OHE [ovariohysterectomy] is the ideal procedure to teach basic surgical skills such as instrument and suture handling, hemostasis, and gentle tissue handling. It is a prophylactic procedure generally performed on all shelter animals before re-homing. Therefore, theoretically at least, large numbers of animals should be available as learning opportunities to allow students to perform this procedure repeatedly at spay/neuter clinics.

      In the last decade, veterinary teaching institutions world-wide have increasingly recognized that the ability to perform any surgical procedure directly reflects the student’s ability to perform a collection of individual skills combined with their possession of sound scientific knowledge.

      Looking to the future, we aim to further incorporate surgical models and simulators, such as DASIE and the newly developed OSM [ovariohysterectomy simulator model], as significant tools for the teaching of basic surgical skills. The earlier implementation of these may be desirable to achieve greater vertical integration, concurrent with the teaching of veterinary anatomy and physiology. A clinical skills laboratory is being established to provide fourth-year students with opportunities to use surgical models and simulators as needed.

    • Obtain a copy from: ResearchGate
  • Langebæk, Rikke; Eika, Berit; Jensen, Asger Lundorff; Tanggaard, Lene; Toft, Nils and Berendt, Mette. 2012. “Emotions in veterinary surgical students: A qualitative study.” Journal of Veterinary Medical Education 39(4):312-321.
    • The Danish veterinary curriculum is divided into a three-year bachelor and a two-and-a-half-year master’s program. Basic Surgical Skills is an eight-day course offered in the fourth year of the curriculum (first year of the master’s). … and (4) four days of practicing surgery on live research pigs. The research pigs are humanely euthanized at the end of a day’s surgical practice. Four students work with one pig, performing a range of surgical procedures (gastrotomy, orchiectomy, cystotomy, enterotomy, intestinal resection, and tracheostomy) in order to practice basic skills in different contexts.
    • Obtain a copy from: ResearchGate
  • Novosaduk, T.; Jukes, N. and Maroueva, E. 2011. “Curricular transformation at St Petersburg State Veterinary Academy.” ALTEX WC8 Abstracts():216.
  • NEAVS Graduate and Professional Schools
    • General information on animal use in professional schools.
  • Policy on conscientious objection in teaching and assessment
  • Whittaker, Alexandra and Anderson, Gail I. 2013. “A policy at the University of Adelaide for student objections to the use of animals in teaching.” Journal of Veterinary Medical Education 40(1):52-57.
    • We believe that provision of a conscientious objection policy should be universal in life sciences teaching where animals are involved. …aside from legislative or ethical requirements imposed by a country’s regulatory framework on the institution, students are often the key advocates for using alternative teaching practices that do not make use of animals. This has prompted many institutions with veterinary and other life sciences teaching programs to develop student-conscientious objection policies to the use of animals in teaching. In this article, we discuss the procedures implemented to make provision for student-conscientious objectors at a new Australian Veterinary School, at the University of Adelaide. We also describe the processes to provide information to students and faculty on this issue and to facilitate information gathering on alternatives.
    • Obtain a copy from: ResearchGate

Updated 2020-08-18