THE HORSE IN BATTLE.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume III, Issue 30, 9 August 1900, Page 4

THE HORSE IN BATTLE.

Horses wounded on the battlefield are duly attended to when no danger to human life is involved. The veterinary officer in charge is expected to, follow close on the fighting line, "and, together with a number of aides, to inspect properly wounded animals and give instructions for their removal or slaughter, as the case may be. . The veterinary surgepn is naturally exposed to considerable danger, but if his work [is not carried out during the progress of hostilities, in ail probability it cannot bo accomplished afterwards, for, although the Royal Army Medical Corps is allowed to | proceed to the rescue of the 'wounded men under the Red Cross, the members of the Army Yeterin. ary Department are not permitted to attend to the injured horses, because they are not under the protection of the Geneva Convention, which makes no provision whatsoever for wounded animals. At the conclusion of the battle, if it has been decisive and one or other of the combatant armies has been driven f rom - the field, a party of veterinary surgeons, with their assistants, is sent out to examine every animal that has fallen, and to shoot such as are badly wounded. Those suffering from only slight injuries are collected and taken to the veterinary hospital lines, formed at fixed camps and established on a similar basis to those of the Royal Army Medical Corps. Here they are again examined by the officer waiting for their reception, and operated on as occasion may necessitate. The station is fitted with operating tables, upon which the animals are strapped for the extraction of bullets, after which they are sent down to the sick-horse hospitals for recovery, and those that die are either buried or burned, according to the climate: \