Animal-rights activists vowed to challenge and denounced the Army's practice of shooting live pigs for medical trauma training after soldiers went ahead with the exercise yesterday.

Despite opposition, the Army proceeded with the exercise at Schofield Barracks in which pigs were shot and their wounds were treated as part of emergency medical training for soldiers headed to Iraq.

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has instructed its 2 million members to inundate the Army with calls and e-mails.

"We are not going to let it drop," said Kathy Guillermo, director of PETA's Laboratory Investigations Department. "We'll continue to press both Schofield and the Department of Defense for a ban on these trauma training exercises."

Maj. Derrick Cheng, spokesman for the 25th Infantry Division, said the training was conducted as scheduled under a U.S. Department of Agriculture license and the careful supervision of veterinarians and a military Animal Care and Use Committee.

The Army said the soldiers are learning emergency life-saving skills needed on the battlefield when there are no medics, doctors or facility nearby.

PETA, however, said there are more advanced and humane options available, including high-tech human simulators.

The Norfolk, Va.-based group demanded the exercise be halted after it was notified by a "distraught" soldier from the unit, who disclosed a plan to shoot the animals with M4 carbines and M16 rifles.

"It's really disappointing when the military proceeds to do something that's really not in the best interest of the soldiers or of the animals," Guillermo said. "We're not happy with that."

Cheng said the exercises are conducted in a controlled environment with the pigs anesthetized the entire time. He had "no doubt whatsoever" of the effectiveness of the instruction, which he called the best option available at the base.

Details about the number of pigs shot, how they were acquired, what ultimately happens to them, or the weapons involved in the training were not provided.

The soldiers being trained are with the 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, which is deploying to Iraq this year.