14 DAY TRIAL // After going after “The Hobbit” and claiming that this cinematic production must be held accountable for the death of as many as 27 animals, green-oriented group PETA is now targeting several military forces worldwide and accusing them of gruesome acts of animal cruelty.
What PETA is referring to is the so-called Operation Danish Bacon. Before anyone jumps to any food-related conclusions, it need be said that, according to PETA, this operation basically consists in having as many as 18 live pigs sedated and then shot.
However, the snipers are careful not to fatally injure the animals, as the whole purpose of the exercise is to make it possible for military doctors to gain some experience when it comes to dealing with battle wounds.
PETA says that Operation Danish Bacon takes place on a regular basis at a training facility in Jægerspris, Denmark, and that British army surgeons also join in on the fun every once in a while, Sky News reports.
The pigs that do make it through the surgery are put to sleep after two hours, which basically means that perhaps it would have been better for them to die when they were shot.
Mimi Bekhechi, associate director for PETA, says that, “The overwhelming majority of the UK's NATO allies do not shoot, stab and dismember animals for their military training exercises.”
Furthermore, “The Ministry of Defence's decision to ship out members of the armed forces for deadly and cruel exercises in Denmark - which would be illegal if conducted in the UK - is impossible to justify medically, ethically and educationally.”
As far as PETA is concerned, on-field experience should teach military surgeons all they need to know about treating gunshot wounds.
Moreover, this organization believes that experimenting with pigs does very little to help the soldiers, given the fact that the Operation Danish Bacon and full-blown war are two very distinct things.
On the other hand, a spokesperson for the UK Ministry of Defense argued that, “This training provides invaluable experience, exposing our surgical teams to the specific challenges posed by the injuries of modern armed conflict.”
“This training has helped save lives on operations and by participating in the Danish exercises we minimise the overall number of animals used.”