Strays and rejects

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We can't deny it, we all know that majority of councils have a high death rate when it comes to stray dogs and cats. As much as we like to think that the majority of cats and dogs end up in animal rescue shelters that have a no kill or low kill policy, thousands more cats and dogs, end up in council pounds on a 5 - 15 day waiting period (depending on where you are) before those cats/dogs are euthanised. Yet in many of the colleges and universities where people study veterinary scients so as to become future vets, often work on cadavers no doubt sent to them by some councils. Speaking to a friend of mine who runs an animal rescue shelter, she was telling me how she can't understand how, if the dogs are going to be destroyed anyway, why can't they be sent 'still alive' to the universities so the vets could have practical training on the care and handling of dogs and cats before having to humanely euthanise them. Who knows, if they did this, perhaps the occasional student would fall for one of the condemned and take them home to keep as their own pet, so that animal has had that final chance to have their live saved. I initially used to think it would be cruel, but I see her point. Trainee vets do need to do practical lessons, and they can't learn this from reading a book, or the computer, just working with cadavers or some plastic dummy isn't really going to help them when they go out in the field. And the benefits of practicing on a live animal whilst still in class would mean the transition to field work would be smoother, the trainee vets would have had to learn how to harden their heart to the cases they'll eventually have to deal with. (Every animal lover who has become a vet has realised that to deal with their job on a daily basis, as much as you want to keep that loving heart, it'd break every time you had to euthanise an animal for whatever reason. So just wondering, what are your thoughts, do you think if a cat or dog is going to be euthanised anyway, should they be sent to the universities? And if you are a vet, what were your learning experiences? What's the worst memory you have re courses? What's the best?