WASHINGTON — People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is renewing its pressure on federal defense leadership to eliminate what it describes as widespread government waste, scientific obsolescence, and extreme animal cruelty. The animal rights organization is publicly calling on Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to immediately ban the Department of War from funding overseas laboratory experiments on animals, pointing to tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer funds spent on foreign testing facilities since 2019.
The renewed campaign follows a formal letter sent by PETA to the Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering. In the correspondence, the organization urges defense officials to halt more than $21 million currently being funneled into contentious research projects across Canada. Among the most controversial projects highlighted by the group is a study at the University of British Columbia involving mice, which researchers have subjected to procedures including physical strangulation, oxygen deprivation, and traumatic brain injury in an attempt to model human domestic and intimate partner violence.
According to PETA’s findings, the broader financial footprint of these overseas defense-backed operations exceeds $35 million. The organization asserts that since 2019, American taxpayers have continuously footed the bill for foreign experiments where laboratory animals—including rats, dogs, mini-pigs, and octopuses—are subjected to severe physical distress. Documented procedures in these foreign facilities range from scalding rats in near-boiling water and sickening dogs to mutilating mini-pigs, slicing open octopuses, and intentionally blinding animals.
PETA Demands End to U.S.-Funded Mouse Strangulation Experiment Attempting to Study ‘Intimate Partner Violence’ in Canada
The focal point of PETA’s most recent intervention involves specific grant funding directed toward Canadian research institutions. In its September 17 letter, the organization specifically targeted a project led by researcher Cheryl Wellington at the University of British Columbia.
In this laboratory setting, mice are placed inside a specialized restraining device where an air-powered metal piston rapidly strikes the animal’s skull. This mechanical impact causes the mouse’s head to whip backward and rotate sharply. Investigators utilize this method—known scientifically as a Closed-Head Impact Model of Engineered Rotational Acceleration (CHIMERA)—in an effort to replicate traumatic brain injuries.
However, the ethical and scientific controversy deepens regarding how researchers attempt to simulate the context of domestic abuse. PETA’s documentation reveals that the laboratory procedures also involve compressing the animals’ neck blood vessels and airways in a crude attempt to replicate nonfatal strangulation associated with intimate partner violence.
Animal welfare advocates and independent scientific critics argue that subjecting small mammals to blunt-force head impacts and airway compression fundamentally fails to capture the complex, multifaceted psychological, social, and physical realities faced by human survivors of domestic violence. Because of these stark physiological and situational differences, PETA contends that the scientific relevance and translational value of such experiments are highly questionable, making the continued expenditure of U.S. military funds difficult to justify.
Beyond the British Columbia facility, the Pentagon’s overseas research portfolio includes grants to other Canadian entities where investigators slice open animals, induce severe neurological damage, deprive test subjects of oxygen, and compromise their vision. PETA argues that these foreign laboratories operate with insufficient oversight from U.S. regulatory standards, creating an environment where government funds are squandered on methods that offer little to no tangible benefit to human medicine or military readiness.
PETA Exposes Cruel U.S. Military-Funded Experiments on Animals Abroad
The latest push against Canadian laboratory grants builds upon an earlier enforcement and awareness campaign launched by the organization. On May 6, PETA formally petitioned Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to intervene and halt what it termed wasteful military spending on foreign animal testing.
In that initial communication, the organization presented evidence showing that the U.S. military has consistently allocated millions of dollars to foreign laboratories where experimenters burn, poison, paralyze, and mutilate animals. PETA representatives have characterized these tests as both exceptionally cruel and scientifically pointless, arguing that they drain vital resources away from modern, ethical alternatives.
In place of traditional animal models, PETA is strongly advocating for the Pentagon to redirect its research investments toward state-of-the-art, human-relevant research methods. Modern scientific alternatives—such as advanced computer modeling, organ chips, human cell-based assays, and clinical data analysis—offer more accurate predictive models for human biology and trauma response without the ethical dilemmas and biological limitations associated with animal testing.
As the debate over federal spending and animal welfare continues, PETA is actively encouraging the public to engage with the issue. The organization has launched public action campaigns urging concerned citizens to contact the Pentagon and demand the complete cessation of overseas animal experimentation, framing the shift as a necessary measure to eliminate government waste, enhance fiscal responsibility, and modernize defense-related scientific research.
