One of the first animals domesticated by humans, the goat has
served people in many ways—not only providing wool, meat and
milk, but also fighting brush encroachment on ranchland and
hauling supplies for mountain hikers. Goats have even been
known to sub as a family pet on occasion.
But it has recently come to light that the U.S. Army has
been drafting the goat for one more duty: to die needlessly for
our country.
In August, The Humane Society of the United States obtained
credible information that the U.S. Army Joint Special
Operations Medical Training Team has conducted or will conduct
at least six tests between September 1 and October 8 in which
healthy goats are purposely wounded in order to train Special
Forces and Special Operations medics in "austere" environments.
Apparently up to 100 goats will be put under general anesthesia
first and then wounded during the exercises at Fort Carson,
Colorado; it's not clear exactly how the animals will be
injured before the medics attend to them, but all the goats
will be euthanized when the training is finished.
In an
August 27 letter to Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, The HSUS
tried to confirm these tests with the Department of Defense
while also suggesting alternatives to the use of goats. After
repeated phone calls, The HSUS did receive a letter, dated
September 3, on Monday September 13, which was several days
after independent news outlets had already confirmed the
trainings in their reports.
In the September 3 letter, the U.S. Army Special Operations
Branch argues that existing alternatives are inadequate for
medic training and that more realistic tissue models are
necessary. What's more, in his letter to the Colorado
Springs Gazette, Major Robert E. Gowan, a spokesman for the
Special Forces Command, wrote that the army has been using
"this very important training for several years" and that it is
"integral" to preparing field medics. (Special Forces Command,
incidentally, oversees the training of Special Forces groups,
both active-duty and National Guard units. Among other duties,
these soldiers instruct foreign troops and perform
reconnaissance in enemy territory.)
Gowan also wrote that the goats are treated "in a humane
manner" and that the trainings are "in accordance with
established protocols and all applicable federal laws, to
include the Animal Welfare Act."
"We're not questioning whether or not the army follows all
the appropriate protocols and federal welfare laws. Nor are we
questioning the importance of training Special Forces medics
for their duties," said Martin L. Stephens, vice president for
Animal Research Issues for The HSUS, who wrote the letter to
Rumsfeld. "What we do question is the need to use goats for
these exercises. We believe that there are ways to accomplish
the military's goals without harming these intelligent
animals."
The HSUS argues that alternatives, including some developed
for and funded by the DoD itself, have been found effective in
a variety of medic training scenarios, including those for the
military. However, if the DoD feels the available alternatives
are not completely adequate, it should support further research
into training methods that don’t involve the harmful use of
animals.
"After all," Stephens said. "they’ve had decades to find
alternatives. We remain skeptical that traumatizing goats adds
anything meaningful to medic training."
Goat-worthy Differences
This is not the first time the military has used nonhuman
animals to train military medics. More than 20 years ago, the
Defense Department had a dog program in place in which
medics-in-training would apparently shoot their canines, nurse
the dog back to health and then finally kill and dissect the
animal. That program was discontinued in part because of a
public outcry.
But the dog program could have just as easily been halted on
practical grounds: There is, after all, little relevancy
between dog anatomy and human anatomy
Same goes with the goat program. In his letter to Rumsfeld,
Stephens detailed the ways in which training with goats will
not replicate the wounds suffered by humans in combat. "If
there is the intention to use the goats for bullet wound
training, bullet wounds will have a much different effect on
nonhuman animals due to body size (the bullet would have much
more of an impact on a smaller body size) and anatomical and
tissue differences," Stephens wrote. "Additionally, human
wounding in the field often involves other problems that will
require emergency response, such as burns, shrapnel or multiple
bullet wounds; therefore this goat training will not simulate
combat conditions."
In requesting that the DoD immediately halt the goat
exercises at Fort Carson, Stephens outlined several
alternatives that the military could use instead of injuring
and euthanizing innocent animals. Aside from the obvious
alternatives—experience at an emergency trauma center in a
major metropolitan area or work on human cadavers—Stephens
suggested using the TraumaMan®
System, an anatomical mannequin that, according to its
manufacturer, has been approved by the American College of
Surgeons. Not only does the TraumaMan System replicate human
skin, fat and muscle tissue, but it can simulate human
breathing and blood flow.
Likewise, there's the VIRGIL™ system,
which combines a realistic human mannequin with a computer
interface to help track a student's progress through a medical
exercise. VIRGIL's manufacturers claim to work closely with
Special Forces Command to create "realistic medical scenarios
for safe, risk free familiarization and competency testing
without the need for animal training."
The Department of Defense, in its own Animal
Care and Use Programs 2001 report, says there have been
"significant decreases in the use of large animals such as
marine mammals, horses, sheep, and goats" from fiscal year 1994
to fiscal year 2001. The DoD says 1,452 fewer goats were used
in FY 2001 as opposed to FY 1994. What's more, the report says
"virtual models and robotic trauma mannequins have replaced the
use of a substantial number of goats in Advanced Trauma Life
Support Courses."
"There's clearly a disconnect between the DoD's ongoing
efforts to decrease the use of animals in its trainings and
what's going on at Fort Carson with the Special Forces medics,"
The HSUS's Stephens says. "We're all behind proper training for
army and National Guard medics, particularly in these times,
but that military goal can be accomplished without traumatizing
and killing countless goats. The military is intended to
protect our freedoms, and one of those is our freedom to
protect the animals whom we have domesticated. If we don't
protect them, who will?"
What You Can Do
Please contact Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and tell him to
stop using goats in Special Forces medic trainings. Tell him
there are approved alternatives available, which do not require
the wounding and euthanizing of innocent animals. Tell him that
the military doesn't need to kill animals to be prepared for
overseas operations.
Contact:
The Honorable Donald H. Rumsfeld
Secretary of Defense
1000 Defense Pentagon
Washington, D.C. 20301
Fax: 703-697-9080
Phone: 703-692-7100
E-mail: Use the DoD's official online
form.
If you have time, please also contact your U.S. senators and
representative and urge them to stop this Special Forces
training program.
Click here to
look up your elected officials.
