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.
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