For Immediate Release:
October 7, 2022
Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382
Washington – Please see the following statement from PETA Senior Project Manager Carla Gunn, a disabled combat veteran, regarding the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command’s reported statement that it has no “ongoing” animal wounding programs and “do[es] not have any studies related to wounding cats or dogs”—despite its own Policy 84, which explicitly states that “wounding of dogs, cats, primates, and marine mammals using a weapon … may be permissible” for testing purposes, and its confirmation in response to PETA’s Freedom of Information Act request that at least one “classified” protocol of such testing exists but is being withheld in full “in the interest of national defense or foreign policy”:
Neither Gen. George Patton nor President Franklin Roosevelt would have tolerated such a misleading statement by the U.S. Army about its recent use of animals in weapon wounding tests, and neither will PETA. Like them, we will continue to fight and win—for the animals who are as defenseless as any downtrodden population. It’s misleading for the Army to give the impression that such weapon wounding tests on animals are not “ongoing” without further clarification—in fact, such testing by the Army has recently occurred, as it confirmed the existence of at least one “classified” protocol of such testing. The bottom line is that the Army’s current policy reverses precedent by allowing for the use of weapons to wound dogs, cats, primates, and marine mammals in gruesome tests, and this abhorrent absurdity needs to be permanently banned.
For more information on PETA’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
