Alicia Silverstone and Son Team Up With PETA to Tell Students: Cut Class, Not Frogs!

For Immediate Release:
April 10, 2024

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

Nearly 30 years after first teaming up with PETA to encourage students to cut out dissection, Alicia Silverstone is back—this time joined by her son, Bear—for a new campaign to empower kids to say no to dissecting animals in school. In a heartfelt video, Silverstone urges parents to support their kids in opting out of animal dissection and to educate schools about the many superior, animal-free methods available.

“Dissection is the only thing we ask our kids to do in school that we would be disturbed to find out they were doing outside of school. Cutting up dead animals desensitizes them. It tells them it’s OK to hurt other creatures, to hurt each other,” says Silverstone. “The great news is that there are so many humane alternatives, from 3D models [to] computer programs. We don’t need to cut up animals.”

Frogs are the most commonly dissected animals below the university level, but other species—including cats, mice, rats, worms, dogs, rabbits, fetal pigs, and fish—are also used for dissection. PETA points out that, contrary to what many people believe, animals used for dissection don’t always die naturally. They typically come from breeding facilities or are caught in the wild specifically to be killed and cut up. Some animals may be stolen or abandoned companion animals, and slaughterhouses and pet stores also sell animals to dissection supply houses. 

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.