Military

The military kills 8,500 pigs and goats every year for medical training. A new bill would end that

A bipartisan group of lawmakers is trying to stop the Defense Department from killing about 8,500 goats and pigs a year in medical training exercises designed to prepare troops for combat.

Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., and Rep. Tom Marino, R-Pa., introduced a bill on Tuesday that would require the military to use only "human-based methods" to train service members to treat injuries sustained on the battlefield and end the use of "live tissue training," in which troops stab or shoot pigs and goats to simulate the treatment of combat trauma, by Oct. 1, 2020.