Charlotte, Spin Your Web

Posted July 18, 2008 at 9:53 am by Rita

I cried when I read this article.

First of all, it is not necessary to shoot live animals to re-create injuries, like Kathy Guillermo stated. I’ve seen Mythbusters rig up a dummy with human-like tissues to use in their experiments. Like she said, medical schools have done away with using animals in their training, and they train doctors.

Secondly, if the animals are anesthetized the entire time, then it isn’t going to be life-like anyway. A soldier who has been shot isn’t going to lie still and calm while treatment is performed, he or she will be freaking out and going into shock. Which is actually something that maybe a synthetic dummy could replicate.

Finally, I cried because I suspect this exercise has nothing to do with treating the injured and everything to do with preparing our soldiers for combat. Maybe they need to shoot something living, like some rite of passage. It made me immediately think of that scene in The Bourne Supremacy where Matt Damon finally shoots the guy wearing the hood as part of his training.

It’s all just too sad, whatever the reasons.

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Tags: animal cruelty, army training, emergency medical training, mythbusters, pigs, soldier cruelty, the bourne supremacy

4 Responses to “Charlotte, Spin Your Web”

1. 1. Maddy said:
   July 18, 2008 @ 10:05 am

   I thought that went out with the dark ages?
   Best wishes

2. 2. Jessica said:
   July 19, 2008 @ 6:03 pm

   Oh, Geeze.

   That totally makes me cringe and I’m not a PETA freak at all.

   I’m sure it is being done to advance trauma response, but you would think somebody, somewhere in some PR land would have advised them against it. It’s just horrible public relations.

   Poor piglets. Of course, this doesn’t even compare to the experimentation they do on pigs, because pigs have anatomies very similar to humans. Makes you wonder what they do behind closed doors.

   However, being a bacon lover myself, I do have to say, if it saves a 17 year old kid, it might, *might* be worth it. I dunno. It’s one of those things I don’t even wanna know about.

3. 3. Rita said:
   July 19, 2008 @ 6:58 pm

   Actually, because of PETA, animal testing is really controlled nowadays. In the 80’s, it got SO MUCH bad exposure from those PETA under-covers that companies finally, gradually, changed their approaches. At least those things approved by the FDA. The FDA has such tight guidelines about animal ethics now, and it all has to be documented and inspected and gone over, that no company messes around with it at all. Animals need to have so much “species specific” stimulation, too, meaning that for really intelligent animals like chimps, they get video games and one-on-one socialization time and whatnot. Other animals like dogs and pigs get so much play time and positive human interaction, too. I know, PETA is just a really fringe, freaky organization now and it’s hard to back them, but they did a LOT of good 20 years ago.

   And, I can’t eat pork. I’ve seen Babe too many times, I just feel guilty. I love it, too, but I only eat it once in a blue moon.

4. 4. SHS said:
   July 19, 2008 @ 10:52 pm

   WOW, that was a rough read!

   I work in an area where animal research goes on. Their function is in medical imaging of many kinds of living animals who have undergone some kind of research surgery.

   The doctors, technoligists, animal care givers etc…treat these animals with the utmost care. Believe it or not, they do have a good life when they are recovered from whatever study they are involved in.

   One study was particulary hard for me was beagle pups who had had their spines broken and essentially created scoliosis. Then the dogs, when a bit older would have their backs straightened same as a young girl with scoli would have done. The placement of these rods in the dog and what the docs could accomplish was short of miraculous for the human patients. And the dogs got adopted out.

   So as awful it is to hear, I guess I have to look at the whole picture. I wish research could be done on heinous criminals, actually.

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