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For immediate release:
Jul 22, 2021
Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382
Washington – With Cobra Gold – Thailand’s annual multinational military exercise that historically included an animal-killing squad masquerading as a U.S. Marine Corps exercise – military personnel have now joined PETA’s efforts to end the exercise. In a letter sent today to Defense Secretary General Lloyd J. Austin III, veterans are demanding an end to the use of Cobra Gold live animals, stating the following:
Troops deserve better training to survive outdoors, but Cobra Gold’s use of live animals resembles a vulgar hazing ritual and does not provide any practical survival skills. Rather, as the United States Marine Corps recognized, the primary goal of the activity was to create a spirit of camaraderie … This goal can be easily achieved in other ways that do not harm or kill animals. We urge you to end the deadly, dishonorable and dangerous use of live animals by Cobra Gold.
During Cobra Gold 2020, US Marines and instructors killed chickens with their bare hands, skinned and ate live geckos, ate live scorpions and tarantulas, decapitated cobras and drank their blood, and enjoyed ritualistic killing and animal consumption. The letter from the military says that these actions dishonor the military and pose a threat of zoonoses similar to COVID-19.
“Tore apart geckos, gnaw on scorpions and drink the blood of cobras is a vulgar hazing ritual, not a way to train military personnel,” says PETA Vice President Shalin Gala. PETA calls on the Secretary of Defense to end this deadly, dishonorable and dangerous waste of animal lives and military resources.
PETA notes that the Cobra Gold drilling rig also endangers king cobras (a species vulnerable to extinction), poses a risk of transmission of zoonotic diseases, and violates the US Department of Defense’s policy of using accessible non-animal methods. In previous years, the Marine Corps Mountain Training Center and the US Army Proving Grounds canceled animal survival training courses following PETA appeals.
PETA, whose motto is in part that “animals are not in our hands to be abused in any way,” is opposed to arrogance, a worldview focused on human superiority. For more information please visit PETA.org; follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram; or click here…
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