Between 80 and 100 members of an animal-rights group gathered outside the Hershey Medical Center on Saturday to protest surgical training operations on animals by medical students and veterinarians.

Silvie Pomicter, director of the Harrisburg branch of Trans-Species Unlimited, an animal-rights organization with about 30,000 members nationwide, said the center unnecessarily operates on various animals, including dogs, to teach surgical techniques. Students can learn procedures on simulators, she said.

Dr. Max Lang, head of the center's animal research department, said dogs are not used by medical students. He said the center's licensed vets practice techniques on sheep and frogs because some surgical techniques cannot be taught without practical training.

"(There are) certain things one cannot learn from reading a textbook," he said, adding that the center does use alternatives including video simulations, whenever possible.

Twelve of the best medical schools in the country use surgical simulators rather than operations to teach their students Pomicter said.

Pomicter said the center operates on dogs, some of which are acquired in other states by people known as "bunchers." The "bunchers" buy dogs and other animals at auctions, which are then sold to a federally-licensed dealer who in turn resells them to research facilities, Pomicter said.

Acquiring animals that were former pets and selling them for research is illegal in Pennsylvania, she said.

"(The center is) getting around the law by getting (the animals) out of state," she said.

Dogs are only used for researching devices such as pace-makers and experimental bone-implant techniques, Lang said. The canines are acquired under federal and state animal protection laws, he added.

"Every dog has individual paperwork and must be traced back to its source," Lang said.

Dr. Frederick Ferguson, director of the University's Laboratory Animal Research Program, said animals are used to practice some operations because a better alternative is not available.

However, Ferguson said it is good to question this practice.

"Philosophically, one always has to question the relative merits of using animals (to practice operations)," he said.

Dr. Neal Barnard, president of the Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine, said veterinarians should be trained the same way as medical doctors, who learn by observing actual cases. Gradually, a medical intern begins to treat patients under close supervision, he said.

"Because the (center is) hurrying (veterinarians) along, they perform unnecessary operations on healthy animals," Barnard said.