PETA says using live pigs in battle surgery training is against EU laws
British army doctors’ trauma training involves shooting, stabbing and breaking animals’ bones, says animal rights group
Animal rights campaigners have called on the EU to investigate the British military’s use of live pigs in battlefield surgery training exercises in Denmark.
Peta, which campaigns for the ethical treatment of animals, wants an inquiry into the use of animals in “deadly medical trauma training” by the British, Danish, Norwegian and Polish militaries, claiming it violates EU laws. It said the training, “which involves shooting, stabbing and breaking the bones of live pigs and other animals”, breaks an EU directive that animals must not be used when other options are available.
The Ministry of Defence uses a Danish facility twice a year to train army doctors in battlefield surgery and insists the handling of the animals is rigorously controlled and they are heavily anaesthetised throughout and attended by veterinary staff. In a letter to the European Commission director-general for environment, Karl Falkenberg, PETA claims the militaries of 22 of the 28 Nato nations, including 19 other EU states, are currently using exclusively non-animal trauma training models such as life-like human-patient simulators, manikins and hospital rounds.
“The UK’s Defence Medical Services and the militaries of Denmark, Norway and Poland continue to mutilate and kill live animals during medical training exercises even though each country has similar domestic laws banning the use of animals when other options exist,” it said in a statement, claiming such action violated directive 2010/63/EU/. “PETA is asking Falkenberg to enforce the directive against these four countries.”
The MoD said: “This training provides invaluable experience, exposing our surgical teams to the specific challenges posed by the injuries of modern armed conflict. It has helped save lives on operations and by participating in the Danish exercises we minimise the overall number of animals used.
“Where simulation can be used for training we do so. However, at the moment for pre-deployment surgical trauma training simulation does not meet the training requirement.”
The MoD says it would not be illegal to carry out similar training in the UK, although Home Office approval would be needed on a case-by-case basis. By participating in the Danish exercises, instead of replicating them in the UK, it said it was minimising the overall number of animals used. Details of the training emerged when it was reported that 18 pigs were shot on the Definitive Surgical and Trauma Care course at Nato’s Jaegerspris training area. After being fired upon in a manner intended to damage the pigs’ organs but prevent imminent death, the animals were then treated as casualties, carried into ambulances and driven to a surgical theatre and operated on by a team of six medics, the Mail on Sunday reported.
Among those who have written to the MoD to protest is Gideon Raff, the creator of the hit TV series Homeland.
In its letter, PETA said the Danish Armed Forces had described in a paper “how it shoots live pigs with high-velocity bullets and inflicts life-threatening …read more
