Call to End US Military Training with Animals
Campaigners opposed to animal testing have called on the US military to cease employing animals as an aid in training forces, highlighting how such procedures are cruel and not of benefit to those receiving the training.
A letter on the subject – addressed to US Defense Secretary Robert Gates - was sent by The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) on July 28th. In it, the organisation requested that Mr Gates substitute the animals with other means of training – human simulators, for example.
Animals Used by US Military
PETA highlighted in the document how animals including monkeys, goats and pigs were receiving wounds from having been burnt and fired upon.
"This outmoded practice is not only cruel, but is a disservice to the men and women who risk their lives in defense of our country and who deserve the most effective trauma training methods available", PETA Laboratory Investigations Department director Kathy Guillermo stated.
No immediate response to the letter has been provided by the Pentagon.
Pigs, Medical Training
The letter came swift on the heels of PETA’s attempt to stop the US Army shooting pigs as part of soldier medical training.
"It [i.e. the practice of Pig shooting] is to teach Army personnel how to manage critically injured patients within the first few hours of their injury", US Army 25th Infantry Division spokesman Major Derrick Cheng explained earlier this month.
Combat Trauma Patient Simulation
In the opinion of PETA, the US military’s Combat Trauma Patient Simulation system – employed at a number of bases across the country – represents a more humane and technologically-progressed alternative.
PETA made reference to the terms of the DoD’s animal welfare policy, stating: "Alternative methods to the use of animals must be considered and used if such alternatives produce scientifically valid or equivalent results to attain the research, education, training, and testing objectives."
Source – Armed Forces International’s US Correspondent
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