{"id":770106,"date":"2022-10-01T07:47:33","date_gmt":"2022-10-01T11:47:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/?p=770106"},"modified":"2022-10-01T08:04:00","modified_gmt":"2022-10-01T12:04:00","slug":"u-s-army-secretly-allows-shooting-dogs-cats-for-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/?p=770106","title":{"rendered":"SHOOT TO THRILL: U.S. Army secretly allows shooting dogs, cats for research"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
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In addition to house pets, the new policy allows the Army to use military weapons on nonhuman primates and marine mammals (like chimpanzees and dolphins) for research purposes.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\n

CAITLIN DOOMBOS:<\/strong> The Army Medical Research and Development Command has quietly allowed shooting cats and dogs for wound experiments despite a 1983 Defense Department ban on the practice, according to a policy update obtained by The Post.<\/em><\/p>\n

While the change was made as early as 2020, it\u2019s being publicized for the first time after the Army command turned aside a bid by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals to find out how many such experiments had been conducted since the switch. \u201cThis new policy wasn\u2019t highlighted or publicly announced in great fanfare,\u201d said PETA vice president Shalin Gala. \u201cThey most likely would not want the PR nightmare that would ensue should this information be released”.<\/em><\/p>\n

In addition to house pets, the policy tweak allows the Army to use military weapons on \u201cnonhuman primates and marine mammals\u201d \u2014 like chimpanzees and dolphins \u2014 for research purposes with approval from the service\u2019s animal care and use review office. The military also has been known to injure and use live pigs to train both the rank-and-file and medical personnel on treating battlefield wounds.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Army command confirmed to PETA that at least one such test had been conducted \u2014 though the service added that details could not be released, according to a letter to the animal rights group that was shared with The Post. \u201cTaxpayers deserve to know what the US Army is hiding by refusing to release details of its horrific weapon-wounding experiments on animals,\u201d Gala said.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Defense Department banned the practice on dogs and cats in 1983 after a whistleblower told PETA of a secret Pentagon plan to purchase dozens of dogs from animal shelters and shoot them with military weapons on a Bethesda, Md., firing range so scientists could study the effects, Gala said.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cFor decades, the Department of Defense had conducted wound labs using conscious or semi-conscious dogs and other animals and they were being suspended from slings and shot with high-powered weapons to inflict different types of injuries,\u201d he explained…<\/em><\/p>\n

PETA protested the practice, prompting a public outcry that led the Pentagon to prohibit such studies. Now the animal rights group is at it again, sending a formal letter Thursday to ask Army Secretary Christine Wormuth to ban wounding the animals for research, Gala said.<\/em><\/p>\n

Lori Salvatore, a spokeswoman for the Army medical research command, called the policy update a \u201cminor wording\u201d change to \u201cclarify training vs. research\u201d… \u201cThe administrative revision \u2026 [clarifies] that wounding of dogs, cats, primates and marine mammals using a weapon is prohibited for training but may be permissible for [research, development, testing and evaluation] following ACURO approval,\u201d the policy update states.<\/em><\/p>\n

While the Pentagon document Salvatore referenced allows the use of dogs, cats, primates and marine mammals in military research, it does not explicitly state they may be wounded with weapons during experiments, unlike the Army policy.<\/em><\/p>\n

In July, the Army denied PETA\u2019s public records request for all documents involving the use of weapons on animals for \u201cmedical research, development, testing or evaluation,\u201d according to a letter shared with The Post… The military cited an executive order exempting documents that would threaten \u201cnational security or foreign policy\u201d from being released under freedom-of-information laws, but Gala suspects there are other reasons for the service\u2019s secrecy.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe assumption is that the damage that\u2019s been caused to these animals is likely very significant,\u201d Gala said. \u201cWe haven\u2019t really encountered that logic before, and that raised quite a few levels of concern for us that they must be testing some sort of secret weapon”… Regardless of what sort of study is being conducted, much of what PETA requested in the documents should be releasable, Gala said.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re asking for things like: How many animals are used? Which species of animals are used? How are they caged? What pain level are the animals in? Were they given anesthesia? Were they killed?\u201d Gala said. \u201cNone of that should be classified \u2014 that\u2019s just basic information.\u201d If PETA\u2019s appeal to Wormuth doesn\u2019t work, Gala said, the group would take the Army to court. <\/em>SOURCE…<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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