PETA Statement: No Barbaric Animal Killing at Cobra Gold 2022 After Outcry

For Immediate Release:
February 10, 2022

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

Washington –

Please see PETA Vice President Shalin Gala’s statement regarding the news that U.S. Marine and Thai military service members will not kill any animals at the upcoming Cobra Gold 2022:

The barbaric animal killing during the Cobra Gold military exercises in Thailand has been nixed for the second year in a row, a top official has confirmed to PETA. Forcing military troops to kill chickens with their bare hands, skin and eat live geckos, consume live scorpions and tarantulas, and decapitate cobras and drink their blood was cruel, dangerous, and likely illegal.

These atrocities were halted in 2021 after PETA’s release of shocking video footage and our exposé—which included formal complaints to top Marine Corps and Department of Defense officials, a rulemaking petition, a Naval Inspector General complaint, and protests outside the Pentagon, the Royal Thai Embassy, and the home of Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III. PETA thanks the military officials who saw fit to protect their uniform and honor from dangerous Jackass Forever–style antics.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information about PETA’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.