PETA presses Pentagon to stop troops from drinking cobra blood, killing animals in survival training
By Rebecca Kheel - 04/27/20 01:32 PM EDT
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is pushing the Pentagon to end the use of live animals during an annual survival training in Thailand that has involved U.S. troops drinking cobra blood.
In a letter Monday to Defense Secretary Mark Esper, the animal rights group argued that the use of live animals at what's known as the Cobra Gold exercise puts troops at risk of contracting zoonotic diseases like the coronavirus.
“Considering the danger zoonotic diseases pose to the troops — and indeed to all humanity — it is imperative that you end the use of live animals in Cobra Gold and instead use more effective and ethical non-animal training methods,†wrote Shalin Gala, PETA’s vice president of international laboratory methods.
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/494846-peta-pushes-pentagon-to-stop-drinking-cobra-blood-killing-live-animals-in
