MYTH EXPLODED

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 52, Issue 32303, 23 August 1943, Page 3

MYTH EXPLODED

BREEDING GUINEA PIGS A.I.F. IN PALESTINE Before the ‘.».h Division, A.1.F.. left the Middle East. Australian medical officers exploded an age-old Palestine myth, and in doing so indirectly saved the lives of many soldiers threatened with tropical and other diseases. The symbol of their success was “Gertrude” —just another guinea pig. small, fluffy and brown—hut when she opened her eyes and gave her hist feeble squawk, several white-gowned medical officers of the A.I.F. relaxed, beamed at one another, and then shook hands.

The extensive medical organisation built up by the A.I.F. in the Middle East required guinea pigs in large numbers. But according to tradition, they could not be bred in Palestine. Many attempts had been made and all had failed. Medical officers of an Australian hospital were impatient, to have a butchery of their own. They started to breed from 20. pigs imported from Cairo. Early unsuccessful attempts did not discourage them, and when Gertrude was born, they knew that their problem was solved and .that the peculiar service for which guinea pigs are required could be given to soldiers on a vastly increased scale. To-day their butchery supplies animals to all other A.I.F. hospitals, 'as well as several British and civilian medical organisations in Palestine.