MILWAUKEE - A new ad calling attention to a program run by a local hospital should go up along a well traveled road Thursday afternoon.

The billboard will go up along I-45 near Hampton Rd. The group sponsoring it called it the Save the Dogs billboard.

The national physicians' group is targeting the Medical College of Wisconsin. The college uses dogs in its lab and students perform surgeries on the animals. The billboard reads "Don't put man's best friend under the knife," and it encourages drivers to visit their Web site about alternatives. The college defends its program.

Dick Katschke of the Medical College of Wisconsin said,."We used simulations that the animal rights groups have encouraged, but a computer is not the same thing as a live being, and students will be the first ones to tell you they don't have the same experience using the computer simulators that they had when they're actually working with live animals."

The college said it will use pigs next year because of all the controversy around the use of dogs in the lab.