PETA Members Protest Cruel Primate Poisoning Exercises
For Immediate Release:
October 7, 2011
Contact:
Robbyn Brooks 202-483-7382
Washington D.C. -- Wearing monkey costumes and holding signs that read, "Army: Stop Poisoning Primates," PETA members—including former military medical corps staff—will protest outside the Association of the United States Army's (AUSA) annual meeting as thousands of Army officials and supporters arrive on Monday morning. PETA is calling for an end to a monthly Army training laboratory at Aberdeen Proving Ground in which vervet monkeys are injected with a drug overdose in order to crudely recreate the effects of a nerve-agent attack. The monkeys are forced to repeatedly endure violent seizures and vomiting, and some even stop breathing. This cruel and crude "show and tell" exercise violates Department of Defense policies that prohibit harming primates for training purposes and require the use of modern non-animal alternatives when available. Every other military base that conducts this training uses only modern, human-like simulators, which better prepare military personnel to treat civilians and their fallen comrades. Video footage is available to view here.
When: Monday, October 10, 8:30 a.m.
Where: Outside the Walter E. Washington Convention Center main entrance, 801 Mount Vernon Pl. N.W., Washington
"By poisoning monkeys in this archaic training laboratory, the Army is violating its own regulations and providing its medical personnel with inferior training," says PETA Vice President of Laboratory Investigations Kathy Guillermo. "If the military can use lifelike human-patient simulators on some of its bases, it can use them on all of its bases."
For more information, please visit PETA.org.