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After speaking out against animal surgical practices at OSU, Sarah Gordon continues to serve as an advocate for Oklahoma pets.
Last year, native Tulsan Sarah Gordon, a third-year veterinary student at Oklahoma State University, chose to take a stand on her own two feet to save the lives of those with four.
At the time, the OSU Center for Veterinary Health Sciences had a practice of purchasing dogs from class B dealers. Students would often perform a practice surgery on these animals, recover the dogs and then do another surgery before euthanizing them.
Gordon refused.
“I did my first surgery on cadavers while others did theirs on class B dogs,” she says. “There was a lot of anger from students and faculty.”
But soon others began to follow Gordon’s lead.
However, it was not until Gordon told Madeleine Pickens, wife of OSU alumnus and prominent donor T. Boone Pickens, about these surgeries that Gordon saw these dogs had a fighting chance. After learning about the school’s practices, Pickens requested that a $5 million donation to OSU be redirected from the veterinary school. This quickly spurred the university to look into other ways to teach surgical procedures.
Now, OSU vet students do surgical training by spaying and neutering shelter animals. These animals are then returned to the shelter for adoption.
“I was persistent enough and had enough support behind me to see that it ended,” Gordon says.
After graduating, she moved last March to Ochelata, where she started For the Animals, a mobile veterinary clinic.
“It’s a clinic on wheels,” Gordon says. “I can go to animal shelters and low-income families to provide quality care.”
The clinic is equipped for her to spay or neuter animals and help with other health needs. Although paying for the clinic while keeping prices low is difficult, she says the effort is worth it.
“I don’t think people should have to choose between good health care for their pet or euthanizing them,” Gordon says. “Just because someone doesn’t have money doesn’t mean they don’t want what’s best for their pet.”
