Shanghai: Thousands of Dead Pigs Float in Water Supply


B. McPherson
Note the broadcaster says no pollution of this river has occurred!

Pigs don’t fly but they sure can float as the residents of China’s Shanghai have found. To date over 3 000 have been fished from the Huangpu River which serves as the main water supply to the coastal city.
The problem of the dead pigs has grown too large to cover up and even China Daily is reporting on it. Reports of dead animals started coming in last week, but the public was not made aware of the corpses in their water supply until Monday.

Some of the dead animals still had ear tags which the department of agriculture traced to piggeries upriver. An outbreak of porcine circovirus in the upriver location has resulted in the death of about 20 000 animals.

In Jiaxing's village of Zhulin, which is dependent on pig farming, almost all of the more than 1,400 households keep pigs. In January, 10,078 pigs died there and in February another 8,326 died, Jiaxing Daily reported. China Daily

The health authorities have declared that the pig virus poses no danger to humans. We have heard that one before, at least before swine flu spread around the world. Viruses have the ability to mutate and merge with other viruses to create new forms that can infect new hosts. Pigs, in particular, can harbour viruses that cause deadly epidemics such as the “Spanish flu” which killed millions before it burned out.

China is currently coping with massive pollution in its rivers and water supplies. For many, the water is not only unsafe to drink, it is unsafe to wash with. The addition of upwards of 20 000 rotting swine carcasses cannot add to the sweetness of the Huangpu River.
Location: Shanghai, China

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