Demand an end to sickening torture

  • by: Diana Tomkins
  • recipient: The Ministry of Defence, UK & Denmark

In the last three years alone, at least 28,000 live animals have been shot, poisoned, blown up or killed by the Ministry of Defence (MoD). They were victims of cruel and archaic training exercises that don't do anything to prepare troops for the battlefield.

Evidence recently revealed through Freedom of Information requests and photographs obtained by PETA have exposed the shocking abuse that the MoD is forcing troops to take part in, including blasting 115 pigs with explosives in terrifying experiments at the British Army's secret Porton Down military base in Wiltshire.

Photographic evidence taken at a facility in Denmark and given to PETA reveals the bloodshed that the MoD is sending British surgeons to take part in. Live pigs were hung upside down by the legs from a wooden frame, and their bodies were marked with "targets". They were then shot with high-velocity bullets that left them with bloody and painful wounds, broken bones and often severe organ damage.

The maimed and bleeding pigs who survived had invasive surgery performed on them in order to patch up their wounds. Dead and dying pigs were hauled off to be disposed of while trainers prepared the next pig for this deadly ordeal.

There is no Geneva Convention to protect pigs, these exercises are just the worse kind of torture for the animals condemned to participate in them.

Not only are training exercises such as these deadly for animals, they also leave soldiers less prepared for the challenges they'll face on a modern battlefield. Around the world, military experts continue to recommend high-tech human simulators as the best way to prepare surgeons for battle, methods that UK soldiers deserve to have access to. One study co-authored by PETA US researchers and military medical experts, which was published in the journal Military Medicine, found that more than 80 per cent of all NATO nations – 22 countries, including Germany, France and Spain – no longer use any animals to train military personnel. That number has since risen to 23.

Multiple studies have shown that medical-care providers who learn trauma treatment using simulators that accurately mimic human anatomy and physiology are better prepared to treat injured patients than those who are trained using inhumane and crude animal-based methods.

Please demand the UK's MOD join its many allies in stopping cruel and archaic animal torture exercises.

Sign Petition
Sign Petition
You have JavaScript disabled. Without it, our site might not function properly.

Privacy Policy

By signing, you accept Care2's Terms of Service.
You can unsub at any time here.

Having problems signing this? Let us know.