Live pigs target for soldiers

Press, 16 March 1982, Page 9

Live pigs target for soldiers

NZPA London "They .shoot pigs, don't they?" can describe" the latest exercise being carried out by North Atlantic Treaty Organisation troops in Sweden, The “News of the World” in London, says that live pigs are being blasted- with bullets and shrapnel'and then ferried to military hospitals by stretcher and ambulance to be patched tip'and sent back to'the front'line. The story includes a picture. that shows' a pig waiting to be operated on while two doctors work on another pig. The purpose of ‘ the exercise. say military organisers, is to. give doctors first-hand experience of battle casualties. They say that Army surgeons normally get little experience of gunshot wqiinds. The pigs are drugged and taken to bunkers before being attacked with gre■nades, high-velocity- riflps or machine-guns —' depending on the injuries ordered by the doctors. Dr Bengt Ellingsen a surgeon, said the structure of a pigs flesh and bone is simito that of a man. “The animals are unconscious before they are shot and they never wake up.” Dr Elllngseq said. "There’s nd cruelty. Their deaths are completely humane/’ he said. The “News of the World” sqid a similar exercise had to Be called off several years ago after a public outcry.