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November 24, 2009
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Ear to the Ground

Marines Practice Battlefield Medicine on Live Pigs

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Posted on Aug 10, 2009
Flickr / The Pug Father

The L.A. Times sets the scene:

“Two enlisted Marines are kneeling on the ground, quickly stuffing gauze into a gaping wound in a pig’s belly to stop the bleeding. Another is doing a ‘blood sweep’ to find other wounds. An officer, just inches from its snout, monitors its breathing and keeps the pig’s thick tongue from blocking the airway. At the other end of the 150-pound swine, a Marine corporal has inserted a thermometer into its anus.”

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By G.Anderson, August 11 at 1:17 am #

Cruelty is Cruelty, no matter how you slice it. It’s called stimulus satiation, once you become immune to the suffering of animals, it’s just a short put to humans. That’s why children who torture animals, are considered to be at risk for serious anti social traits.

Then there are also people who like animals more than people, for them it would be easier doing this to humans than to animals.

Just a pig? Animals have minds, just like you do.

I’m told by friends that worked in slaughter houses, that workers in the past often lost all compunction against killing, and at times killed “people”, mater of factly without thinking twice about it.

So, restrictions were passed, limiting their time on the killing floor.

Maybe this will save lives, but their are risks.

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By Kompatriot, August 10 at 5:57 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

The animal in question is a pig. We’re not talking about other human beings. We’re talking about pigs. Big difference.

Seriously, why would anyone care about soldiers using pigs for training? Do you value the life of a pig above that of a soldier? Of course, one could argue that there are methods which involve no pig killing that may be as effective. But in any case, it’s still a pig. An animal which has yet to demonstrate that it is in any way sentient.

Big &*($ing deal if it dies. I would care if they were people or sentient space aliens, but they’re not. They’re pigs.

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By Elissa Fineman, August 10 at 5:54 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

They should make the soldiers build relationships with the pigs. Afterall, they will be working on humans they know. Sometimes I am ashamed to be a human. Make sure to get to the part where the pig saves the boy from drowning.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tfbf5DHcUcs

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By Leefeller, August 10 at 5:05 pm #

Why do I have a vision of Limbaugh with a thermometer up his anus?

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By garth, August 10 at 5:04 pm #

A friend woerked for a Professor of Physiology in the 60s who was trying to get money from the government for his research project monkeys. 
I visit him at “the monkey house” and he showed me the monkeys.  They were all strapped in cages with electrodes coming out of their heads.  I couldn’t go back.
Maybe if they tried these barbaric tests on the real swine, namely the marines, or stopped invading countries altogether and saved the 6 million dollars to educate people on a plant based diet, we might get somewhere.

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