In an effort led by White Coat Waste (WCW) Project, a 501(c)(3) bipartisan nonprofit organization and government watchdog, the Department of Navy has terminated all dog and cat experiments, a move that will save millions of taxpayer dollars and end unnecessary suffering for countless animals. As a former 82d Airborne Infantry Paratrooper and Army Human Intelligence Collector, I’m calling on the branch in which I served to not fall behind the Navy and to lead the way on ending these outdated and inhumane procedures.
The Navy’s ban is part of a much bigger effort: Only six months into office, President Trump’s administration has made stunning and unprecedented strides for animals by massively curtailing taxpayer-funded inhumane animal experimentation across the executive branch. Under President Trump and thanks in large part to the efforts of WCW, the FDA, EPA, and NIH have all announced plans to end animal experimentation in their departments.
Now, following reports from WCW, the Department of Defense is reviewing its horrific animal testing contracts, which range from funding beagle labs in China to a recently renewed $10 million contract for constipation research that involves shoving marbles into cats’ rectums.
Related: When It Comes to Stopping Animal Cruelty, DeSantis Delivers
While the Navy has taken a huge step by banning cat and dog experiments, the Army has yet to put a decisive end to these egregious and expensive experiments. It pains me to see my branch lagging behind our rival service on an opportunity to demonstrate moral leadership and integrity.
I joined the Army and deployed to Afghanistan because I believed in the idea of selfless service and of fighting for the voiceless — even at the expense of personal safety. I wanted to be a part of a lineage of standing up for what is right.
It is not becoming of this lineage and does not honor the service of our veterans when the bureaucracy behind our military squanders millions of American tax dollars by needlessly torturing voiceless cats and dogs.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has reinvigorated our Armed Forces by rightly returning its focus to war fighting and Army recruiting numbers are reflecting the wisdom of this effort; instead of focusing on identitarian and inclusivity metrics, the Army is back to focusing on readiness and lethality. But these costly and reprehensible animal experimentation programs are wasteful deviations from that focus. No warfighter ever won a battle because a cat was tortured in a taxpayer-funded lab. No mission was ever made safer by needlessly abusing dogs.
If anything, these grotesque experiments undermine the moral authority of our Armed Forces and distract from real national security priorities.
As the executive director of the Wilberforce Institute, a nonprofit organization of conservatives and libertarians focused on the ways in which government harms animals, and the co-founder of Good Lion Veterans, a nonprofit fraternal organization of veterans serving our community, I am continually focused on serving the voiceless, especially when unchecked government has trampled them.
I’ve seen firsthand how bloated federal programs can drift far from their purpose, waste our tax dollars, and become morally bankrupt. That’s exactly what’s happening with animal testing in the Department of Defense.
Fortunately, with President Trump’s unprecedented crackdown on taxpayer-funded animal abuse, the tide is turning. But it’s time for the Army to step up and take the lead.
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