Army Pig-Shoot Angers Animal Rights Activists

Porkers shot and revived for medical training
By Dustin Lushing,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 18, 2008 9:12 AM CDT
Army Pig-Shoot Angers Animal Rights Activists
This photo provided by the U.S. Army shows Army Maj. Bobby Toon posing in October 2007 with a feral pig he killed at Fort Benning in Columbus, Ga. It wasn't part of the controversial drills.   (AP Photo/Fort Benning)

The Army is butting heads with animal rights activists over a planned drill that involves shooting live pigs. As practice for battlefield medical care, soldiers will fire at the pigs, then rush to save them. "It's to teach Army personnel how to manage critically injured patients within the first few hours of their injury," said an Army spokesman.

Animal rights groups claim there are alternative ways to train soldiers, such as using high-tech human simulators. "Shooting and maiming pigs is as outdated as Civil War rifles," said a PETA official. Military officials say the pigs are anesthetized the entire time, and that the method is crucial to Army medical training. (More US Army stories.)

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