An Army commander allegedly offered his troops $100 to track down and slaughter a wild pig during a training exercise. Now PETA has learned about the incident, and the animal rights group wants the Army to bring down the hammer on the commander.
A whistleblower leaked details about the commander to the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, prompting the group to write an angry letter laying out the details of the slaughter and demanding action, Army Times reports.
“Soldiers used a Ka-Bar knife attached to a stick to stab the pig, after which they repeatedly hit the pig’s head with an entrenching tool, sliced the pig’s throat with the Ka-Bar knife, and cut apart the pig’s body parts that were sealed in bags and later thrown into the wild,” PETA wrote in the letter, describing an incident that took place during a training exercise in June 2015.
During that exercise, Army Capt. Jonathan D. Kuhn reportedly offered $100 to his troops if they could capture and kill a wild pig. When his troops actually went through with it, Kuhn was reportedly surprised.
“‘Holy shit, you guys really did kill a pig,'” the whistleblower recalled Kuhn as saying.
PETA not only wants an investigation into what it refers to as illegal activity at the Kahuku Training Area in Hawaii, but hopes for the Army to use every measure it can to penalize Captain Kuhn if the story is actually true.
“We urge you to investigate this troubling matter and, if corroborated, levy all permissible penalties against Captain Kuhn for ordering soldiers to apparently illegally stab, dismember and kill this animal,” PETA wrote.
In response to a query from Army Times, spokesman Master Sgt. Matthew Davio said that an Army Regulation 15-6 investigation had been carried out, resulting in counseling for Kuhn, as he failed to “uphold unit and Army standards.” While the reprimand will not be placed in Kuhn’s permanent file, it may come up in his evaluation, which may prove devastating to his career.
“The evidence showed the Capt. Kuhn’s comment was an unfortunate attempt at humor that was misconstrued and taken literally,” Davio added, according to Army Times. “The result was the unlawful killing of a wild pig in the training area. Capt. Kuhn did not pay $100 because his comment was not a sincere offer of transaction.”
Wild pigs in Hawaii are an invasive species. They are generally held to be destructive. The problem is not confined to Hawaii, but also afflicts the entire U.S. There are now approximately 5 million wild pigs, which cost about $1.5 billion a year in terms of control efforts and damage caused.
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