The Army is butting heads with animal rights activists over a planned drill that involves shooting live pigs. As practice for battlefield medical care, soldiers will fire at the pigs, then rush to save them. "It's to teach Army personnel how to manage critically injured patients within the first few hours of their injury," said an Army spokesman.
Animal rights groups claim there are alternative ways to train soldiers, such as using high-tech human simulators. "Shooting and maiming pigs is as outdated as Civil War rifles," said a PETA official. Military officials say the pigs are anesthetized the entire time, and that the method is crucial to Army medical training. (More US Army stories.)