LIMA, (Reuters) – At least two stolen dogs were  found in an operating room used for dissections at the medical  school of South America’s oldest university, but its dean  denied relying on dognappers to collect specimens for classes.

The University of San Marcos does not have access to enough  human cadavers for its students, so they sometimes cut open  dogs instead.

Carmen Valverde’s dog Tomas was stolen by two men while she  was walking in the working-class Brena district of Lima, and a  friend who works at the school’s teaching hospital spotted him  by chance in a surgery room where dogs are dissected.

Valverde donned a lab coat and snuck into the hospital to  rescue Tomas. Video her friend shot a week ago, aired on local  television, shows him sedated, splayed, and strapped to a  stainless steel table — just moments away from the knife.

After local newspapers published the story, other people  missing dogs rushed to the hospital’s door and one owner found  her dog Chico.