Sgt. Nicolas Cholula / United States Army / Wikimedia
Gold Cobra Exercise
Military training exercises in which soldiers drink snake blood and eat live animals can trigger a new pandemic. The alert is from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) group.
According to Russia Today, thousands of soldiers from different countries participate in the joint exercises every year Cobra Gold, that happen in Thailand.
These military exercises include a survival course, where instructors teach soldiers to eat in extreme conditions: they extract venom from scorpions and tarantulas to consume animals and drink the blood of snakes.
Last week, PETA sent a letter to the United Kingdom’s Secretary of State for Defense, Ben Wallace, in which he asks the official to demand that the organizers of these practices “Permanently replace” the use of live animals by other “more effective and ethical” methods.
“The use of live animals during the Cobra Gold represents a risk of spreading zoonotic diseases similar to covid-19, putting the troops and the general public at risk ”, explains the organization.
PETA recalls, in the same letter, that 75% of emerging infectious diseases started as diseases in animals.
The organization condemns the “ritualistic” and “barbaric” massacres and stresses that the practice contributes to the extinction of species.
“The brutal slaughter of animals during this annual exercise not only endangers public health and species vulnerable to extinction, including the royal snake, but also dishonors our troops,” said PETA’s director of scientific policy, Julia Baines.
Cited by the Independent, a British Defense Ministry spokesman said only “a small number of military planners” participated in the exercises. Cobra Gold and that no soldier was involved in this type of training.
Liliana Malainho, ZAP //
