COLORADO SPRINGS — People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals will be in Colorado Springs today to protest the Army’s use of live goats in trauma-training exercises for medics.
A Fort Carson medic alerted the animal rights group that goats were to be shot this week, PETA said in a release.
“PETA points out that the exercises may violate the Department of Defense’s own animal welfare regulation, which requires the use of non-animal methods when such methods are available,” PETA said. The group said the Air Force and Navy do not use live animals in medical trauma training.
Officials have said in the past that by treating the goats, medics learn how to handle the wounds they’ll see on the battlefield.
The goats are put under general anesthesia before being shot, a Fort Carson soldier told The Gazette in 2004. The animals are purchased on a federal contract through an Army vendor, are euthanized after the training and their remains are cremated.
The protest is scheduled for noon at the intersection of South Nevada Avenue and East Cheyenne Road.
Fort Carson officials did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
