Dugway sheep incident
The Dugway sheep incident, also known as the Skull Valley sheep kill, was a March 1968 sheep kill that has been connected to United States Army chemical and biological warfare programs at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah. Six thousand sheep were killed on ranches near the base, and the popular explanation blamed Army testing of chemical weapons for the incident, though alternative explanations have been offered. A report, commissioned by Air Force Press Officer Jesse Stay and first made public in 1998, was called the "first documented admission" from the Army that a nerve agent killed the sheep at Skull Valley.
Background
Since its founding in 1941, much of the activity at
Incident
In the days preceding the Dugway sheep incident the
The incident log at Dugway Proving Ground indicated that the sheep incident began with a phone call on March 17, 1968, at 12:30 a.m. The director of the University of Utah's ecological and epidemiological contact with Dugway, a Dr. Bode, phoned Keith Smart, the chief of the ecology and epidemiology branch at Dugway to report that 3,000 sheep were dead in the Skull Valley area. The initial report of the incident came to Bode from the manager of a Skull Valley livestock company.[5] The sheep were grazing in an area about 27 mi (43 km) from the proving ground; total sheep deaths of 6,000–6,400 were reported over the next several days as a result of the incident.[6] The Dugway Safety Office's attempt to count the dead sheep compiled a total of 3,843.[7]
Possible causes
Previously obtained documents said a nerve agent demonstration occurred the day before the sheep deaths.[8] On March 13, 1968, an
One explanation in the aftermath of the incident was that a
Other information contradicted the initial assumptions. One contradiction to nerve agent exposure as a cause came in the symptoms of some of the sheep following the incident. Several sheep, still alive, sat unmoving on the ground. The sheep refused to eat, but exhibited normal breathing patterns and showed signs of
Aftermath
The incident affected the Army, and U.S. military policy within a year. The international infamy of the incident contributed to President Richard Nixon's decision to ban all open-air chemical weapon testing in 1969.[2] The sheep incident was one of the events which helped contribute to a rise in public sentiment against the U.S. Army Chemical Corps during and after the Vietnam War.[11] Ultimately, the Chemical Corps was almost disbanded as a result.[11]
Following the incident, the Army and other state and federal agencies compiled reports, some of which were later characterized as "studies".
The report concluded that the "quantity of VX originally present was sufficient to account for the death of the sheep."[4] Even after the report surfaced, the Army maintained that it did not accept responsibility for the incident and did not admit negligence.[2] As late as 1997, one year before the report went public, U.S. Department of Defense officials stated that "the reason it (the report) was never published is because it wasn't particularly revealing."[12] Deseret News reported in June 1994 that Ray Peck, who owned the sheep that were killed, was outside working during the May 13, 1968, incident; members of his family developed nervous-system illnesses that were similar to those reported by people exposed to low levels of VX in lab experiments. Also, the probe showed that medical tests the Army had used to claim humans were not affected are now considered inconclusive, and the Pecks had shown other signs of low-level VX exposure.[8]
In popular culture
This incident formed the basis for the 1972 motion picture Rage, directed by and starring George C. Scott.[13]
The incident inspired Stephen King's novel The Stand.[14]
Author Richard Kadrey used the incident as inspiration for the name of a fictional metal band, Skull Valley Sheep Kill, in his Sandman Slim novel series.[15]
See also
- Deseret Chemical Depot
- Deseret Test Center
- Granite Peak Installation
- Operation CHASE
- Project 112
- Project SHAD
- Sverdlovsk anthrax leak
- Banjawarn Station
- Unethical human experimentation in the United States
- United States and weapons of mass destruction
References
- ^ Lee Davidson and Joe Bauman (February 12, 2001). "Toxic Utah: A land littered with poisons". Deseret News. Archived from the original on July 24, 2008. Retrieved March 18, 2008.
- ^ a b c d e f Norrell, Brenda. "Skull Valley's Nerve Gas Neighbors", (LexisNexis), Indian Country Today (Rapid City, South Dakota), October 26, 2005. Retrieved November 26, 2007.
- ^ Hambling, David. "US army plans to bulk-buy anthrax", New Scientist, September 24, 2005. Retrieved November 27, 2007.
- ^ a b c d e Woolf, Jim. "Army: Nerve Agent Near Dead Utah Sheep in '68; Feds Admit Nerve Agent Near Sheep", (LexisNexis), The Salt Lake Tribune, January 1, 1998. Retrieved November 26, 2007.
- ^ ISBN 080505765X). Retrieved October 10, 2008.
- ^ a b c Hoeber, Amoretta M. and Douglass, Jr. Joseph D. "The Neglected Threat of Chemical Warfare", (JSTOR), International Security, Vol. 3, No. 1. (Summer, 1978), pp. 55–82. Retrieved November 26, 2007.
- ^ ISBN 0275967565). Retrieved November 26, 2007.
- ^ a b "Lethal breeze" Archived October 31, 2013, at the Wayback Machine By Lee Davidson, Correspondent Deseret News Sunday, June 5, 1994 Retrieved July 2, 2012
- ^ Davidson, Lee (June 5, 1994). "Lethal Breeze". www.deseret.com. Deseret News. Retrieved February 23, 2023.
- ^ "A History Of Chemical Warfare, Greg Goebel (Accessed on January 31, 2010)
- ^ a b Mauroni, Al. "The US Army Chemical Corps: Past, Present, and Future Archived July 6, 2010, at the Wayback Machine", Army Historical Foundation. Retrieved October 10, 2008.
- ^ "DoD news briefing – Mr. Kenneth Bacon, ASD (PA)", (Lexis Nexis, relevant excerpt Archived December 12, 2016, at the Wayback Machine), M2 Presswire, April 8, 1997. Retrieved November 26, 2007.
- ^ Canby, Vincent (November 23, 1972). "Scott Is Star and Director in 'Rage'". The New York Times. 50.
- ^ King, Stephen. "Stand: The Complete and Uncut Edition: The Inspiration". Archived from the original on February 2, 2009. Retrieved August 24, 2008.
- ^ Kadrey, Richard [@Richard_Kadrey] (November 29, 2016). "The name Skull Valley Sheep Kill is also a reference to a real incident. Google it" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
Further reading
- Boffey, Philip M. "Nerve Gas: Dugway Accident Linked to Utah Sheep Kill", (log-in required to view article) Science. December 27, 1968, Vol. 162, No. 3861, pp. 1460–64. Retrieved November 26, 2007.
- "Sheep & the Army", Time, April 5, 1968, accessed October 10, 2008.
- "Toward the Doomsday Bug", Time, September 6, 1968, accessed October 12, 2008.
- Van Kampen, K.R., et al. "Effects of nerve gas poisoning in sheep in Skull Valley, Utah", Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, April 15, 1970; Vol. 156 Issue:8 pp. 1032–35, accessed October 10, 2008.
- Wright, Burton. "America's Struggle With Chemical-Biological Warfare", (FindArticles.comon October 12, 2008.
External links
- Biewin, John. "Sheep Kill", (radio broadcast), NPR, February 8, 1998, accessed October 10, 2008.
- Cianciosi, Scott. "The Sheep Incident", DamnInteresting.com, March 17, 2008, accessed October 12, 2008.