Department of Defense, Stop Killing Goats!

july 7 , 2012

For years, the U.S. military has maimed and killed goats to condition trainees for combat and trauma situations. This is not just animal cruelty, it's backwards logic to think that harming animals adequately prepares soldiers for real-life situations. Not only do goats respond differently than humans would in combat training, but there are alternatives available that do not hurt animals at all.

Help end this outdated and senseless practice now! Show support for the Battlefield Excellence through Superior Training (BEST) Practices Act!

JULY 2 2012

Animal Abuse Exposed

It’s shocking but true.
The U.S. military is using more than 6,000 pigs and goats every year in combat trauma training. They’re amputating the animals’ limbs, burning their flesh, and ultimately killing them—all in an attempt to train military medics and other first responders.
It’s outrageous and unnecessary!
I’m sure you agree that this must stop now. So please take action now. Tell the latest offender—Davis-Monthan Air Force Base—to stop maiming pigs in their training courses.
PCRM has successfully taken on the military in the past—getting the Army to stop using monkeys to train medical personnel to treat chemical warfare exposure—so we can’t let up now. Not when so many helpless animals are being subjected to such intense cruelty.
Please, take action now.Davis-Monthan Air Force Base needs to hear from you—they need to hear that you oppose their use of pigs and goats. Especially since the military owns cruelty-free, human-based simulators that can effectively replace animals!
PCRM’s success comes from the strength of our supporters. In the coming days, you’ll receive more e-mails about this very critical campaign—and how you, and your friends can make a difference.

JULY 2ND 2012

Ask the Air Force to Replace the Use of Pigs in Combat Trauma Training Course
Pigs will be used and killed in a combat trauma training course conducted by Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Ariz., despite the existence of human-based training methods. In this course—intended for Air Force Special Operations pararescue jumpers—pigs are rendered unconscious and may be subject to amputations, burns, and abdominal evisceration. However, nonanimal, human-based training methods exist. Please take a minute to ask the base commander, Col. John A. Cherrey, and unit commander, Col. Harold L. Maxwell, to immediately replace the use of pigs with these human-based methods. We have provided text for you, but if you decide to write your own message, please be polite and encouraging. Here are some talking points:

I am writing to urge you to use human-based training methods instead of live animals in your combat trauma training course and in all future courses.
The use of animals in this type of training is inadequate, due to the numerous anatomical differences between the animals and humans.
Human-based methods such as medical simulators are effective and widely available.
Click the "Send Your Message" button and your e-mail will automatically be sent to Col. Cherrey and Col. Maxwell.
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Dear Col. Cherrey and Col. Maxwell,


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I am writing to ask that you immediately replace the use of pigs with human-based training methods in the course for members of the 306 Rescue Squadron.

The curriculum for this course can be taught using any of a variety of realistic, high-fidelity medical simulators. For example, the Cut Suit, by Strategic Operations, Inc., was specifically designed for combat trauma training courses and can be used to teach a wide variety of procedures, including all of those featured in the live tissue portion of the upcoming course. Cut Suit can teach extremity tourniquet application, extremity arterial hemorrhage clamping, surgical incisions to the thoracic and abdominal cavity, hemorrhage control of organ structure, and suturing or stapling of organs and skin.

Compared to live tissue training, the Cut Suit more closely replicates the experience of treating a wounded human casualty. The system allows for interaction with a live patient during the emergency assessment and treatment process. Furthermore, body armor, uniform, clothing, and equipment can all be worn over the suit. Compared to an unconscious, anesthetized animal, these elements more closely recreate the emotional stresses of working on a living, wounded human.

Other simulators designed specifically for this type of training have been developed and are available for use. Maryland-based Operative Experience, Inc., uses medical simulators with unprecedented anatomical and surgical fidelity within a rigorous experiential instructional paradigm to reduce training costs while increasing effectiveness. Recently, one highly regarded battlefield trauma expert and Uniformed Services University professor of surgery stated about Operative Experience's devices that it is "as close to human tissue as anything I've ever seen...[T]these models are like nothing else out there...Combined with a curriculum, they have the capacity to revolutionize training."

I understand that the decision of whether to use simulators or live animals in the course is yours. I urge you to make the transition to human-based training methods and make the change a policy for all future courses.

Sincerely,
Patricia Che
15 allée des plumassiers
Bussy-Saint-Georges, MS

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Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine
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Phone: 202-686-2210 Email: pcrm@pcrm.org

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APRIL 29 , 2012

They cut goats' legs off

new undercover investigation shows in graphic detail how more than 6,000 goats and pigs are intentionally maimed -- while they're still alive and many without adequate anesthesia -- in military medical training exercises every year.
The Department of Defense says trainers slice open live animals and saw off their limbs in order to train medics in how to treat human injuries. But medical professionals, veterans and advocates counter that this kind of cruelty to animals is no longer necessary -- and is, in fact, counterproductive --- when more effective human-patient simulators can be used instead.
Dr. James Santos is a retired Lieutenant Commander in the Navy and a physician. And after working with real patients in the field and at the Naval Medical Center, he knows that operating on live animals did not train him in how to treat real, complex human injuries.
James started a petition on Change.org calling on Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to eliminate this outdated and unnecessarily cruel practice. Click here to sign James' petition calling on the Department of Defense to stop using live animals in medical trainings.
Video footage from the investigation is chilling: goats' legs are cut off with garden shears and the goats moan in pain, showing that they have not been adequately anesthetized.
But worst of all is knowing that not only is this kind of animal cruelty unnecessary -- it could actually make medics less prepared to treat real human injuries."Compared with humans, goats and pigs are much smaller," Santos says. "Their skin is thicker, and the anatomy of their organs, blood vessels, skeletons are drastically different."
These differences can mean that medics actually have to spend time unlearning what they know about effectively treating animals, or waste time translating from animal to human anatomy in the middle of life and death situations. Whereas human-patient simulators breathe, bleed and even have bones to break -- and allow trainees to practice treatments again and again until they get it right and are as prepared as they can be to save real lives.
Click here to sign James' petition to end the use of live animals in military medical trainings, and replace them with realistic human simulators instead.
Thanks for being a change-maker,
- Pulin and the Change.org team

P.S. Tens of thousands of petitions are started on Change.org every month. Here are a few that need your support now:

Temple University senior Lindsey Adams started a petition calling on Sodexo, the company that runs the dining halls on her campus, to stop buying eggs and meat from suppliers who confine pigs in gestation crates and chickens in battery cages.

After her dog, Sampson, died in January, Terry Safranek started a petition asking Nestle Purina to recall chicken jerky dog treats made in China that could be poisoning thousands of dogs -- the same treats Sampson ate before he died