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 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 LetterI 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that you adopt PETA's recommendations and take immediate action to end the needless suffering of animals in these outdated training exercises.
