Help End Military Trauma Training on Animals

Thousands of animals are mutilated and killed by the military in trauma training exercises every year—even though superior, non-animal alternatives are available. In the current drills, live pigs are shot, stabbed, and burned, and the legs of live goats are broken and cut off with tree trimmers. These barbaric acts take place on many military bases in the U.S. and around the world.

Now is your chance to help end the suffering and death of animals used in trauma training drills. Please take a few minutes to read more about these cruel exercises, and take action now.

Trauma Training 101

Every year, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) conducts cruel trauma training exercises in which animals are used as stand-ins for wounded troops. Medical personnel at military installations across the nation critically injure thousands of live animals before killing them.

“No animal model can adequately duplicate the anatomy and physiology of injuries inflicted upon the human body in war.”
—Michael P. Murphy, M.D., vascular surgeon, Indiana University School of Medicine, veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom (2004, 2007)

Not only are these exercises inhumane, the DOD is also putting troops’ lives at risk by using animals. Pig and goat anatomy and physiology are drastically different from those of humans. Therefore, the procedures learned by cutting apart animals don’t translate when it comes to treating humans.

There are numerous non-animal training methods available, including rotations in civilian trauma centers as well as sophisticated human-patient simulators that represent accurate anatomy and can mimic severe bleeding, breathing difficulties, responses to medications, and even death in humans.

Nearly three-quarters of NATO allies have informed PETA that they don’t use animals for military medical training, proving that it’s not necessary to do so in order to teach treatment skills. Furthermore, after meeting with PETA, the U.S. Coast Guard became the first branch of the armed forces to end the use of animals for what it calls this “abhorrent” trauma training in favor of advanced human-simulation technology.

In addition, a bipartisan law included a PETA-backed provision that—for the first time—made human-simulation technology the new gold standard of trauma training, meaning that the U.S. military must use it before considering harming any animals in trauma drills. While the number of animals used in this type of training has decreased, the practice persists.

Take Action

Thousands of live animals are shot, stabbed, dismembered, and burned every year in DOD training exercises.

Please join the thousands of military veterans—including Oliver Stone, Bob Barker, and Gideon Raff—prominent medical organizations like the National Medical Association and the National Hispanic Medical Association, dozens of members of Congress and the New York Times editorial board who are speaking up to help improve military training and protect animals. Send a polite e-mail urging the DOD to end the use of animals in all military trauma training drills and to use superior human-simulation technology instead.

Tell the Military to End Animal Abuse in Trauma Training Drills!

Subject

Message

I'm writing to urge the Department of Defense to replace all use of animals in military trauma training with superior and less costly human-simulation technology.

A military study found that making the switch from animals to human simulators would save the Pentagon millions of dollars. Unlike animals, human-simulation models allow service members to practice vital lifesaving procedures on correct human anatomy and physiology and repeat them until they're confident and proficient.

As you know, in 2017, the U.S. Coast Guard fully ended its use of animals for trauma training. In 2018, the bipartisan National Defense Authorization Act required, for the first time, that the military use human-simulation technology in trauma training before considering using any animals for this purpose.

Given the superiority and cost-effectiveness of this technology, and for the sake of our troops, I urge the Department of Defense to end all use of animals in these drills across all the services and to require instead the exclusive use of more effective, ethical, and economical human-patient simulators and other modern, non-animal tools.

Thank you for your consideration of this important matter.

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