Coast Guard Cuts Number of Animals Used in Half

February 2014

U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) officials announced a new policy that will reduce the agency’s use of live animals in cruel and deadly medical training exercises by more than 50 percent and require that more personnel now be trained exclusively with advanced simulators and other non-animal methods. The USCG’s decision follows an official review that the agency launched in response to disturbing video footage released by PETA in 2012 that showed USCG instructors cutting off semiconscious goats’ legs with tree trimmers, stabbing the animals with scalpels, and pulling out their internal organs as they moaned loudly and kicked their legs.