What do guitar god Tom Morello, System of a Down’s Grammy-winning vocalist Serj Tankian, seminal skate punk band Pennywise’s founding member Fletcher Dragge, hip-hop legend Chuck D, and peta2’s favorite vegetarian socio-political punk band Anti-Flag have in common? They all stand behind our campaign to end the military’s use of animals in trauma and chemical casualty training exercises. Every year, thousands of animals, including pigs, goats, and monkeys, are used in exercises organized by the Department of Defense. Current exercises include shooting, stabbing, and burning live pigs; cutting goats’ legs off with sharp shears; and poisoning monkeys with toxic chemicals—all to train medics on how to treat human injuries on the battlefield. These exercises are still being conducted on many military bases in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world, despite the availability of superior non-animal methods.
In a recent campaign win, Bolivia’s president banned the use of all animals in military exercises after we broke an undercover investigation video showing Bolivian soldiers who were violently stabbing live dogs for trauma exercises—citing the U.S. Army as their influence in doing so! The U.S. and the rest of the world need to follow Bolivia’s lead and stop shooting, stabbing, poisoning, and mutilating live animals in trauma exercises now!
Axis of Justice is a non-profit organization formed by Tom Morello and Serj Tankian. Its purpose is to bring together musicians, fans
of music, and grassroots political organizations to fight for social justice. 
