| In the interest of speed and timeliness, this story is fed directly from the Associated Press newswire and may contain spelling or grammatical errors. |
Rescue Critters offer alternative to veterinary practice on animals
Tuesday April 15, 2003LOS ANGELES (AP) Veterinary students and animal care workers who need to practice treating animals no longer have to rely on stuffed animals.
Craig Jones, president of Rescue Critters, has been producing anatomically correct animal mannequins to teach animal care, CPR and veterinary skills.
Jones said the business started about five years ago after he worked as a production manager at Universal Studios and as a CPR instructor at Camarillo State Hospital. An injury forced him to look for a new career and his business idea came when he went to a class on pet first-aid and noticed the instructor using a stuffed animal.
Jones enlisted his wife, who worked on costumes at Universal Studios, and formed a five-person team to create Jerry, a canine CPR mannequin, in his garage. The animal mannequin was made with working lungs and an artificial pulse to practice mouth-to-snout resuscitation, splinting and bandaging.
About 40 dog mannequins soon were made and Fluffy, a feline version, also was created.
Veterinary schools from around the world began calling and the animal mannequins started to become an alternative to practicing medical techniques on live animals.
Jones and his partners did not consider themselves anti-vivisectionists at first, but they have come to embrace the Animal Welfare Act's call to ``refine, reduce and replace'' live animals in veterinary training.
``You have to start somewhere to make the world a better place,'' said Pruneda, the company's vice president. ``And a society that treats animals humanely seems like a good place to start.''
Laura Rasmussen, director of surgery and clinical skills at Western University of Health Sciences' College of Veterinary Medicine, has worked with Jones to develop other models.
``The Female K-9 Urinary Catheter Training Mannikin, that was my idea,'' Rasmussen said.
A colleague is working on the ``Bovine Rectal Palpation Mannikin,'' which is used to teach students how to gauge a cow's pregnancy.
Rescue Critters also makes ``Fetch,'' a canine search-and-resuce mannequin used to train police, firefighters and animal regulation officers on how to extricate trapped dogs. Search-and-rescue teams also train with the mannequin to learn how to rappel with a rescue dog.
Other products include the $5,675 ``Lucky'' the rescue horse, the $795 ``Critical Care Fluffy,'' and disposable lungs and veins.
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On the Net:
Rescue Critters: http://www.rescuecritters.com
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