US MILITARY SHOOTING LIVE ANIMALS FOR TRAINING

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U.S. Military Shooting and Burning Live Monkeys, Goats, and Pigs in Trauma Training

The Department of Defense is shooting and burning monkeys, pigs, and goats in combat training exercises for servicemen and servicewomen—even though more effective non-animal simulators are readily available. Leading medical experts agree that these simulators offer superior training. In addition to being cruel, this outmoded practice 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 is calling for an immediate end to all use of animals in trauma training exercises. Most medical schools long ago ended the use of animals for trauma training.

Many humane alternatives for trauma training are readily available, including the following:

• Having military level one trauma centers work with the community and take care of the entire population of their city
• The Combat Trauma Patient Simulation System, which "provide[s] realistic training" and dropped the trainee attrition rate from 23 percent to 6 percent, according to CHIPS (the U.S. Navy's information technology magazine)
• Simulab Corporation's TraumaMan system, which has been approved by the American College of Surgeons for teaching Advanced Trauma Life Support
• Dr. Emad Aboud's "living" cadaver perfusion model, which has been endorsed by more than 20 surgeons and used in surgical training at universities in the U.S. and abroad

You Can Help
Medical experts agree that there is no need to shoot pigs and goats and to burn monkeys with chemical weapons to teach soldiers and medics how to treat human injuries. Please help animals who are suffering in Department of Defense trauma training exercises by using the form below to send a quick message to Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates respectfully urging him to replace the use of animals with non-animal methods.

Please contact the Department of Defense today by filling out their Ask A Question web form.

Feel free to copy and paste the sample letter below or write your own.

Sample Letter
I was shocked to learn that the Department of Defense is shooting live pigs and goats and burning monkeys in trauma training exercises. There is no justification for this cruelty. The majority of medical schools in North America no longer use animals for medical trauma training, and more effective humane alternatives are readily available. I respectfully request that you adopt PETA's recommendations and take immediate action to end the needless suffering of animals in these outdated training exercises.

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From the Community…

Comments 1-10 of 10
  • springtime's Avatar
    Posted by springtime Thu Jul 31, 2008 2:13pm PDT

    If this were true, this would be an investigative reporter's dream assigment. CNN would have reporters all over the site! So would every other major news source.

    But nothing from them. Wonder why?

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  • 's Avatar
    Posted by Thu Jul 31, 2008 2:21pm PDT

    Breaking News/Updates ( this was taken from the honolulu advertiser)

    Updated at 4:11 p.m., Monday, July 28, 2008

    PETA pressures military to stop using animals for trauma training

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    By JAYMES SONG

    Associated Press

    Animal-rights activists are calling on the U.S. to stop using animals as subjects to help train its military, calling the medical and trauma exercises cruel and a disservice to the troops.

    The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent a letter today to Defense Secretary Robert Gates asking him to replace the use of animals with non-animal methods such as human simulators.

    In the letter, PETA said the military inflicts gunshot, burn and chemical wounds on monkeys, pigs and goats for training.

    "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," wrote Kathy Guillermo, director of the PETA's Laboratory Investigations Department.

    The Pentagon did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

    PETA's letter comes 10 days after the group failed to prevent the Army from shooting live pigs and treating their gunshot wounds in a medical trauma exercise at Schofield Barracks.

    The soldiers were with the 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, which is deploying to Iraq this year.

    The Army said the training is critical to teach soldiers how to manage critically injured patients within the first few hours of their injuries when there are no medics, doctors or facilities nearby.

    PETA believes the military's Combat Trauma Patient Simulation system, which is being used at other bases such as Camp Pendleton in California and Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, is a more advanced and humane option.

    In its letter, the Norfolk, Va.-based group cited a 2006 New York Times report that quoted a Navy medic who described the training he witnessed involving pigs.

    "They shot him twice in the face with a 9-millimeter pistol, and then six times with an AK-47 and then twice with a 12-gauge shotgun. And then he was set on fire. ... I kept him alive for 15 hours. That was my pig."

    PETA also noted the Department of Defense's animal welfare policy that states, "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."

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  • 's Avatar
    Posted by Thu Jul 31, 2008 2:22pm PDT

    Animals are for eatin!

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  • HotCrossBuns's Avatar
    Posted by HotCrossBuns Thu Jul 31, 2008 2:28pm PDT

    If you really want your voices heard, I wouldn't rely on PETA's reputation as a body of screwy extremists to get you anywhere. Putting their name on anything is almost a guarantee the matter will be disregarded and your letters sent to File 13!

    I support animal rights 100% and agree that there is something seriously wrong with a government that relies on torturing animals for training its soldiers. But if you truly want to get your messages through to the Department of Defense, try writing the same letter as a supporter of the US Humane Society. At least then you have a chance of being heard!

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  • HotCrossBuns's Avatar
    Posted by HotCrossBuns Thu Jul 31, 2008 2:30pm PDT

    Springtime, it actually is true...just check out the Humane Society's webpage regarding the issue:

    http://www.hsus.org/animals_in_research/animals_in_research_news/military_uses_pigs.html

    Like I said previously, putting PETA's name on anything raises questions to the validity of the matter!

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  • ChiS's Avatar
    Posted by ChiS Thu Jul 31, 2008 2:49pm PDT

    When the aliens arrive, there's going to be a group called AETH (Aliens for the Ethical Treatment of Humans). They're going to use humans for testing cosmetics, death rays, and artificial sweeteners. They're going to try us in different recipes. There will be alien restaurants serving humans. One of the most popular dishes will be man-on-a-stick, followed closely by woman-on-a-stick. They're going to turn the planet into a wasteland so that they can drill for molten lava, their source of energy. Humans will be covered with molten lava and die.

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  • springtime's Avatar
    Posted by springtime Thu Jul 31, 2008 2:56pm PDT

    Thanks, HotCrossBuns.. I will look at this because of your recommendation. I make my living by breaking and training horses in the most dignified manner possible. I am also 100% animal. I started riding when I was five, and started training at twelve.

    But you are right about PETA. Just like a bunch of little poodles running around your ankles, making constant noise and so irritating.

    But still... how can a pig withstand SIX rounds with an AK 47 and then shotgun blast. I have a shotgun.. that alone would blow the hind quarters off a pig with just one blast. That part just doesn't ring true.

    Typical PETA.

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  • 's Avatar
    Posted by Thu Jul 31, 2008 3:04pm PDT

    actually it is going on , if you don't belive too bad but it is on the newspaper I left the article, go to wwww.honoluluadvertiser.com and search for militariy shooting pigs, I am not joking

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  • springtime's Avatar
    Posted by springtime Thu Jul 31, 2008 3:38pm PDT

    I don't have to go anywhere. I know PETA. I volunteer at a horse recovery barn. What we see would make you sick. Some PETA people showed up in April, 2007. The head equine vet stepped out and said...

    " Glad to see you people. To rehabilitate an abused horse is expensive. Maybe you'd like to leave a donation to help us out".

    You should have seen them running back to their shiny SUVs and speed away.

    Don't talk to me about PETA.

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  • Emily's Avatar
    Posted by Emily Tue Aug 5, 2008 5:38pm PDT

    HaHaHa, Hello Pico, you sexydevil, you!!

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