You have to be a special kind of monster to shoot a live pig just so you can dress its wound. Isn’t that how serial killers get their start? they kill non-human animals and work their way up to human animals?
Wayne Pacelle reports in a recent blog post that the Army shot live pigs at “Schofield Barracks in Hawaii so that soldiers could treat these intentionally inflicted wounds. A disgusted soldier tipped off People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which went public with the information immediately before the exercise—which nonetheless went forward.”
The Army claims they must shoot live pigs to give soldiers “the best training possible,” according to an AP story. PETA said there are “more advanced and humane options available, including high-tech human simulators. In a letter, PETA urged the Army to end all use of animals, “as the overwhelming majority of North American medical schools have already done.”
The Army continued with the maiming and training.
Pacelle writes: “Sadly, the U.S. military has been intentionally wounding animals for decades in an archaic attempt to hone emergency medical training procedures. The Army once used dogs in such exercises but apparently switched to pigs in the hope of generating less controversy.’
While the goal is right, the means are all wrong. Medical personnel in civilian life obtain trauma training through apprenticeships in urban trauma centers and through repeated practice on human-like simulators. Such simulators are surprisingly good at reproducing the look and feel of the human body, tissue, and fluids.”
Erin Martinez, a research associate for PETA, writes in a recent editorial in the Modesto Bee that soldiers “regularly call PETA to ask for our help in stopping them. PETA has appealed to the military, pointing out that there are effective and empirically validated alternatives. The Combat Trauma Patient Simulation System, for example, now in use at some Army and Navy bases, is a manikin that realistically represents human anatomy and traumatic injury. It breathes, hemorrhages, has a pulse, blinks and even simulates dying, providing troops with directly applicable experience and valuable feedback.”
In a 2006 New York Times story a Navy medic described his experience using live pigs for trauma training: “”My pig?” he said. “They shot him twice in the face with a 9-millimeter pistol, and then six times with an AK-47 and then twice with a 12-gauge shotgun. And then he was set on fire.”
WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE?
Pacelle wrote to Army Secretary Pete Geren to urge him to stop shooting animals for training. YOU, sitting there wondering how you can help stop this barbaric practice, can send comments to the Army via their Web site. See the link that reads “Make a comment, no response provided”? or you can write in and ask them questions.
GET BUSY.
s.
Filed under: animal rights Tagged: | animal rights, pigs
thanks for giving us a course of action…I sent my comments to the military, and I am encouraging everyone I know to do the same. The old generation of leaders needs to step aside for change, practices like this are archaic and will not be tolerated.
I guess we need to know the truth, so that we can change it.
Thanks, nat!
s.
Despicable! I sent this info to a ton of friends!!
I’d like to think this is out of line for what we should expect from our military and government but, sad to say, it’s not really surprising. It’s a totally horrible way to teach our medics, in my opinion, and I’m sure some other methods could be used if they would only take the time and have the compassion to do so. Let’s hope that enough people protest to the extent that they do make changes for the better.
Let us CONNECT.
This above issue is not an ISOLATED one.
A contingent of the US Army next month would be in India to undergo guerrilla jungle warfare training at the Counter Insurgency and Jungle Warfare (CIJW) School of the Indian Army which is based in a remote northeastern part of India called Vairangte in Mizoram state.
It is shocking and surprising that despite India having strict laws to protect the animals both domestic and wild this institute has been training people from all across the globe on how to poach animals and feast on them.
The animals include poisonous vipers, primates and dogs man`s best friend).
This is being practiced since the inception of the institute in the 60s.
An official complaint has been lodged in this regard with the Animal Welfare Board of India http://www.awbi.org
Would request you all to do the needful in your individual capacity to condemn such acts and take this matter up with your local governments to ask the defense people to boycott such practices whilst in India on such training schedules.
Complaint copy attached below:
>Troops were trained to feed on venomous vipers, dogs and monkeys as part of military exercises to sharpen their skills in jungle survival and combat.<
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterinsurgency_and_Jungle_Warfare_School
Kind attention:
Chairperson/ Secretary, Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI)
Sub: Indian animals being abused for Counter Insurgency Training
Dear all at AWBI,
Please see read the full text to find the quoted lines. These lines have been extracted from Wikipedia and it is about the The Counter Insurgency and Jungle Warfare (CIJW) School of the Indian Army which is based in Vairangte, Mizoram.
It may be noted that since this institution was set up, it has been training Indian and foreign defense personnels and consumption of the wild animals is still practiced as a part of the training.
Some animals that are being poached in the name of training by the Army are as follows:
1. Snakes and reptiles.
2. Dogs
3. Primates
It is hereby requested to caution or issue a notice in this regard to those concerned so that the training continues MINUS the slaughter and use/abuse of wild and protected animals.
Picking up animals from the forest or illegal markets in the northeast of India and using them for such activities is a punishable offense and the offenders should be made to take note of this as early as possible
The next high level training is between the US and Indian military personnels, and the soldiers have arrived.
Please see details below:
Link: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Halt_India-US_military_exercises_in_Mizoram_CPM_to_UPA/articleshow/3318468.cms
Halt India-US military exercises in Mizoram: CPM to UPA
Also if any animal whether wild or domestic is used for the purpose of training, the institution or the authorities concerned should obtain necessary permission in this regard from the AWBI or the Wildlife Department.
Also at a time when the nation`s Prime Minister is taking personal interest in the protection and welfare of animals in danger, this brutality in the name of training should be immediately halted and those guilty punished/ booked.
An acknowledgment of receipt of this mail is highly appreciated from the AWBI.
regards,
Azam Siddiqui
Master Trainer in Animal Welfare
Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI)
member: PFA- India, PETA-India
Contact number: +91 94350 48481
Copy to:
1. Smt. Maneka Gandhi,Chairperson PFA- India & Former Forest and Environment Minister, Government of India.
2. Ms. Belinda Wright, Executive Director, WPSI- India
3. Ms. Anuradha Sawhney, Chief Functionary, PETA- India
____________________________________
From the archives:
Link: http://www.dawn.com/2004/04/10/int7.htm
US troops eating snakes in Indian jungles
VAIRENGTE, April 9: US troops are being fed venomous vipers, dogs and monkeys as part of military exercises to sharpen skills in jungle combat in India’s insurgency-torn northeastern state of Mizoram.
Some 100 Alaska-based US infantry soldiers and 120 local troops last weekend launched joint exercises codenamed “War Rehearsal” to learn what they called “low-intensity” combat at the Counter-Insurgency Jungle Warfare School (CIJWS). Lt Col David Alan Wisecarver, commanding the US contingent, said the US army planned to add more teeth to its unconventional combat units.
“The US army has already raised two such strike brigades and we form the elements of the third, which is being trained to be highly-mobile, digital and network-centric for rapid anti-terrorist strikes,” Col Wisecarver said.
The CIJWS, set up in 1970, is one of the world’s most respected anti-terrorist institutions with troops from 19 nations including Iraq and Afghanistan having being trained in counter-insurgency warfare here.
The games, being held in Mizoram’s remote Vairengte forests, are scheduled to end on April 17. Brig B.K. Ponwar, CIJWS commander, said the rugged training included living off the land.
“The human body is capable of undergoing tremendous stress and strain and it is often not realised until put to test,” Ponwar said besides a table loaded with snake, monkey and dog meat on which the soldiers feasted.
“Troops must live in all-weather terrain, eat and sleep like the guerrilla and strike as silently as the guerrilla,” said an Indian trainer in CIWJS. Wisecarver said his men enjoyed the joint exercises in Mizoram’s lush green jungles.
“Though the landscape may be reminiscent of Vietnam, we are enjoying our stay here,” the US colonel said. Ponwar, meanwhile, said his school planned to upgrade its facilities and train soldiers to take on guerillas in places like occupied Kashmir.
“With the northeast on the threshold of eliminating terrorism, the CIJWS is now shifting its focus towards Jammu and Kashmir,” he said. Local insurgency ebbed, especially in the worst-hit Assam, after New Delhi last December prodded neighbouring Bhutan to launch an all-out military offensive to crush elaborate hideouts the militants had set up in the Himalayan kingdom.
“The CIJWS is also going in for framing tactics to hunt down and confront terrorists groups carrying weapons of mass destruction…,” Ponwar said, adding the school would be upgraded into a military college later this year.
The school was set up after Indian soldiers suffered heavy casualties at the hands of north eastern rebels who were adept at hit-and-run guerrilla strikes. More than 50,000 people have been killed in the insurgency in the northeastern region since 1947. -AFP