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THEY SHOOT DOGS, DON'T THEY? US Army's ONGOING barbaric 'weapon wounding tests' on dogs and cats revealed

Peta has accused the US army of quietly allowing the shooting of cats and dogs with high-powered weapons to study effects in cruel 'wound experiments'

Warning: This content contains graphic content and description against animal cruelty, viewers discretion is advised

WASHINGTON, US: The Army Medical Research and Development Command has secretly allowed shooting cats and dogs for wound experiments in the year 2020, despite a 1983 Defense Department ban on the practice. PETA has demanded the US Army release of public information on weapons used to inflict wounds on animals species for research purposes, but the appeal was denied.

“This new policy wasn’t highlighted or publicly announced in great fanfare,” said People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, vice president Shalin Gala. “They most likely would not want the PR nightmare that would ensue should this information be released.” The Army however has claimed that the "information is classified and in the interest of national defense or foreign policy."

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“Taxpayers deserve to know what the US Army is hiding by refusing to release details of its horrific weapon-wounding experiments on animals,” Gala said. Other than house pets, the policy allows the Army to use military weapons on “non-human primates and marine mammals” like chimpanzees and dolphins with approval from the service’s animal care and use review office for research purposes. The military is also known to injure and use live pigs to train both the rank-and-file and medical personnel on treating battlefield wounds.

The Defense Department had banned the practice on dogs and cats in 1983  with the help of a whistleblower who informed PETA of a secret Pentagon plan to purchase dozens of dogs from animal shelters and shoot them with military weapons on a firing range in Bethesda, Maryland, so scientists could study the effects, Gala said. Gala explained that for decades the Defense Department has set up "wound labs" using conscious or semi-conscious dogs and other animals suspended with slings and shot them with high-powered weapons to "inflict different types of injuries."

PETA has sent a letter to Secretary of the Army, Christine Wormuth, urging her to reinstate the ban on such tests. A spokeswoman for the Army medical research Lori Salvatore claimed the policy update with a "minor wording"  to "clarify training vs. research." The revised administrative claims, wounding of dogs, cats, primates and marine mammals using a weapon is prohibited for training but may be permissible for research, reports The Post. 

“PETA is demanding that the Army ban weapon wounding tests on dogs, cats, monkeys, and marine mammals and release all non-sensitive information about these tests that it marked as 'classified,' a designation that speaks volumes about what animals likely endure in the Army’s secret torture labs,” stated the spokesperson. If PETA’s appeal to Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth doesn’t work, Gala said, the group would take the Army to court.