Dugway sheep incident

The Dugway sheep incident, also known as the Skull Valley sheep kill, was a March 1968 sheep kill caused by the United States Army chemical and biological warfare programs at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah. An F-4 Phantom aircraft flying a test dispersal mission of the nerve agent VX inadvertently released some of the agent at a higher altitude. Six thousand sheep were killed on ranches near the base, and the contemporary popular explanation blamed Army testing of chemical weapons for the incident, though alternative explanations were 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. The public outcry contributed to the Nixon Administration's 1969 Statement on Chemical and Biological Defense Policies and Programs.