Animal activists furious at army pig shoot

The US Army is pressing ahead with a medical exercise shooting live pigs and treating their wounds despite protests from animal groups.

The Army says the exercise for troops heading to Iraq is critical to saving the lives of wounded soldiers.

A spokesman for the 25th Infantry Division, said the training was being supervised by vets.

“It’s to teach army personnel how to manage critically injured patients within the first few hours of their injury,” he said.

The soldiers are learning emergency lifesaving skills needed on the battlefield when there are no medics, doctors or facility nearby, he said.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, however, said there are more advanced and humane options available, including high-tech human simulators.

It urged the army to end all use of animals, “as the overwhelming majority of North American medical schools have already done”.

“Shooting and maiming pigs is outdated as Civil War rifles,” said a spokeswoman.

The group demanded the exercise be halted after it was notified by a “distraught” soldier from the unit, who disclosed a plan to shoot the animals with M4 carbines and M16 rifles.

“There’s absolutely no reason why they have to shoot live pigs,” the PETA spokeswoman said.

The army said the exercise was conducted in a controlled environment with the pigs anaesthetised the entire time. He had “no doubt whatsoever” in the effectiveness of the instruction, which he called the best option available at the base.

“Those alternative methods just can’t replicate what the troops are going to face when we use live-tissue training,” he said. “What we’re doing is unique to what the soldiers are going to actually experience.”

The soldiers being trained are with the 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, which is deploying to Iraq this year.

“We understand (PETA’s) concerns and point of view. At the same, the Army is committed to providing the soldiers with the best training possible,” the spokesman said.