Medical students and emergency responders traditionally trained on live and recently euthanized animals, with welfare-improving alternatives now available for most medical training applications.
Medical training on live animals was once considered necessary for preparing clinicians to handle real patients. The development of high-fidelity human patient simulators, cadaveric materials, and hybrid training systems has eliminated the necessity for most live animal medical education. Countries that have transitioned to non-animal medical training produce clinicians who perform equivalently in patient outcomes. The welfare case for completing this transition globally is strong, and the educational case for maintaining live animal training is increasingly difficult to defend.