Group to Converge on Defense Secretary's Speaking Engagement With Footage of Goats' Legs Cut Off With Tree Trimmers
For Immediate Release:
June 8, 2012
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
Washington, DC -- Holding signs that read, "Secretary Panetta: End Military Animal Labs," and screening recent video footage showing military trauma training instructors who cut live goats' legs off with tree trimmers, stab the animals, and pull out the animals' internal organs as they moan and kick, PETA members will gather outside the Ritz-Carlton on Monday as Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta prepares to address the 31st Annual Conference on U.S.-Turkish Relations inside. PETA's point? That the use of live animals shown in the video—which was given to PETA by a whistleblower—is contrary to military regulations, which prohibit the use of animals if non-animal methods are available (as they are in this case).
When: Monday, June 11, 6:30 p.m.
Where: Outside the Ritz-Carlton, 1150 22nd St. N.W. (near the intersection with M Street N.W.), Washington
"Forcing trainees to stab and dismember moaning, kicking goats is not only cruel but also ineffective," says PETA Vice President Kathy Guillermo. "Modernizing the military is always a top priority, and Secretary Panetta can start by moving these hideous trauma training courses out of the Dark Ages."
Each year, the U.S. military and its contractors shoot, stab, mutilate, and kill more than 10,000 live animals in cruel trauma training exercises, even though superior lifelike human-patient simulators that breathe and bleed have been shown to prepare doctors and medics to treat injured humans better than crude animal laboratories. These advanced simulation methods have already replaced animal use at some military facilities, and a recent study by PETA and military medical experts found that 22 of 28 NATO nations (including Turkey) do not use any animals for military medical training.
For more information, please visit PETA's military trauma training website.