Allegations of U.S. Marine’s Animal Cruelty In Iraq Draw National Scrutiny

March 4, 2008

The Humane Society of the United States, the nation's largest animal protection organization, wrote to U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates today, calling for an investigation into allegations a U.S. Marine deployed in Iraq committed an act of animal cruelty. The letter is in response to a disturbing video recently posted on the Internet, which depicts a Marine tossing a puppy into the air and over a cliff.

The posting has prompted a substantial number of The HSUS's supporters to write to us to demand action.

In the letter, The HSUS’s President and CEO Wayne Pacelle wrote: “A videotape widely circulated on the Internet during the last several days depicts a man, who appears to be a U.S. Marine, tossing a yelping puppy over a precipice. We understand that the Marine in the videotape is identifiable, and we therefore expect the Department of Defense to investigate and to take swift and appropriate disciplinary action.” 

This is the fourth letter The HSUS and its international affiliate, Humane Society International, has sent to the Department of Defense since mid-2005, as instances of animal cruelty linked to Americans in the conflict zone have come to light. In a prior letter to Gates, Pacelle asked the Department of Defense to support the insertion of an explicit prohibition and punishment for cruelty to animals within the Universal Code of Military Justice.  

In his letter today, Pacelle urged Gates to take agency-wide steps to raise awareness of the relationship between cruelty to animals and socially maladapted behavior. 

“Such instances of cruelty are objectionable in their own right, but take on special urgency as we welcome American military personnel home from the war zone,” Pacelle wrote. “While only a few incidents of this kind have come to light, we worry about the psychological stability of those who could perpetrate such vicious acts against the most vulnerable of creatures.” 

The HSUS employs experts on the legal, psychological, political and social aspects of animal cruelty. Information is available at humanesociety.org/cruelty. To speak with an expert, contact HSUS Public Relations Specialist Pepper Ballard at 301-258-1417 or pballard@humanesociety.org. 

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The Humane Society of the United States is the nation's largest animal protection organization — backed by 10.5 million Americans, or one of every 30. For more than a half-century, The HSUS has been fighting for the protection of all animals through advocacy, education and hands-on programs. Celebrating animals and confronting cruelty — On the web at humanesociety.org.