PETA Statement: Warhound’s Plan for Bioengineered Military Dogs Is Outdated and Out of Touch

For Immediate Release:
October 26, 2026

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Below, please find a statement from PETA Senior Vice President Colleen O’Brien regarding billionaire Palmer Luckey’s new startup Warhound, which plans to clone and genetically engineer dogs for military work:

It’s a pity that some people with enormous amounts of money have very little common sense. Genetically engineering dogs for dangerous military work is a stunningly old-fashioned idea at a time when other agencies are phasing out the use of dogs in favor of robotics, AI, and other state-of-the-art technology that can be used without putting dogs in harm’s way.

PETA notes that robot dogs have already been deployed in active combat zones and can perform many of the same duties as traditional military working dogs and police K-9s—while sparing real dogs from being shot, blown up, strangled, or suffering slow, agonizing deaths from heatstroke.

Please let me know if you have any questions or if there’s any further information that I can provide.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.