16,000 Pigs Floating In Chinese Rivers, Cleanup Reaches New High

Crews have removed 16,000 pigs floating in Chinese rivers near Shanghai. In addition, 1,000 dead ducks were found floating in a river elsewhere in China.

As previously reported by The Inquisitr, China’s Huangpu River was the dumping site for at least 16,000 pigs floating in the waters. A town in a nearby province, Jiaxing, is accused of dumping 4,664 of the animals, but 10,000 dead pigs were pulled out of the water at that site alone.

A Shanghai government statement released late on Sunday claims, “The city’s water territory has already basically finished the work of fishing out the [16,000] floating dead pigs.” The government estimates have seriously underestimated the amount of clean up remaining to be done, with an additional 1,000 pigs found floating within just one day.

The Huangpu river supplies 22 percent of the city’s drinking water. Government officials are still claiming that 16,000 pigs floating in Chinese rivers do not pose a contamination risk to the waters. Samples of the dead pigs have tested positive for porcine circovirus, a common swine disease that does not affect humans.

Jiaxing is still thought to be the main source of the dead pigs, but the city has insisted it’s not the sole source. Shanghai farmers have not reported an epidemic which would kill 16,000 pigs in such a short time.

The sale of diseased pig products is big business in the area around Shanghai, but the government has been trying to crack down on the practice. Shanghai is seeking to grow as an international financial center, and the world finding out about 16,000 pigs floating in its rivers is embarrassing to the city.

What do you think about the 16,000 pigs floating in Chinese rivers?

[Image courtesy of Hbreton19 and Wikipedia Commons]