Black-Clad Protesters to Call for Animal-Free Special Ops Trauma Training
PETA Protest Will Seek to End Archaic Military Practice of Shooting, Stabbing, and Dismembering Live Animals
For Immediate Release:
May 23, 2017
Contact:
Megan Wiltsie 202-483-7382
What: On Wednesday, dozens of sign-carrying, black-clad PETA supporters will head to the Special Operations Medical Association’s Scientific Assembly whose theme this year is, “Back to the Future: Gaining New Ground and Preserving Lessons Learned” to urge the military to gain ground by ending the maiming and killing of animals in training drills and adopting cutting-edge, human-patient simulation technology instead.
When: Wednesday, May 24, 12 noon
Where: 501 S. College St. (at the intersection of S. College and E. Stonewall streets), Charlotte
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—notes that service members are currently forced to cut off live goats’ legs with tree trimmers and shoot, stab, burn, and cut apart live pigs in medical trauma training exercises. A report published earlier this month by the U.S. Defense Health Agency called this use of animals “outdated and cost-prohibitive.”
“Shooting and hacking apart animals does nothing but send medical personnel into war zones inadequately prepared to treat human patients,” says PETA veterinarian and Air Force veteran Dr. Ingrid Taylor. “PETA is calling on military special operations officials to replace these archaic drills on animals with the best training possible—and that’s human-patient simulators.”
A number of bases currently prepare personnel without harming animals, and last month, the Coast Guard suspended its use of animals in these training drills.
Photos will be available after the event. For more information, please visit PETA.org.
