Pegasus Research Consortium

Dead Pig Toll Continues To Climb In China
AP  |  Posted: 03/22/2013 3:40 am EDT

BEIJING (AP) — The number of dead pigs recovered in the last two weeks from rivers that supply water to Shanghai has risen to more than 16,000.

The government in China's financial hub said Thursday that 10,570 carcasses have been pulled from its Huangpu river. That is in addition to 5,528 pigs plucked from upstream tributaries in the Jiaxing area of Zhejiang province.

Authorities give daily updates assuring the public that tests show Shanghai's water is safe, but no official has given any full explanation about the massive dumping of pig carcasses.

Hog farmers have told state media that the dumping of swine carcasses is rising because police have started cracking down on the illicit sale of pork products made from dead, diseased pigs.

The state-controlled Southern Weekly newspaper, citing court documents, said three men were sentenced to life prison in Jiaxing last November for procuring dead pigs to sell their meat. It says the men and their group purchased and slaughtered 77,000 dead pigs in a period of more than two years.

Local officials also told Southern Weekly that the city lacks enough facilities to properly dispose of dead pigs. Hog farming is a major business in Jiaxing.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/22/dead-pig-toll-shanghai_n_2930056.html?utm_hp_ref=weird-news&ir=Weird%20News

pigs and now ducks..what the heck is going on over there...
and has anyone heard from deuem...?  ?




1,000 Dead Ducks Found In China's Nanhe River; Pig Carcass Count Continues To Rise

The Huffington Post  |  By Ryan Grenoble Posted: 03/26/2013 11:38 am EDT  |  Updated: 03/26/2013 11:45 am EDT

Chinese authorities have a new mystery to ponder after 1,000 duck carcases were found floating down the Nanhe river in the country's Sichuan province on Tuesday.

As with the puzzling count of dead pigs -- now totaling 16,000 -- found in the Huangpu river and its upstream tributaries in the last several weeks, the government has yet to offer an explanation for the phenomenon.

Liang Weidong, an official with the county's publicity office, told Xinhua, China's state news agency, the rotten birds had been found tucked into 50 woven plastic bags, from which they were removed before being sanitized and buried. As the Nanhe is not a source of drinking water, authorities say the waterfowl pose no threat to public health.

That assurance, however, seems to have had little effect with some Chinese citizens voicing their distrust on Sina Weibo, China's version of Twitter. Writes one person, in a translation provided by Financial Times, "How can you tell they are harmless when you don't know how the ducks died?"

Another poster, under the username Baby Lucky, added via the BBC, "Dead pigs, dead ducks ... this soup is getting thicker and thicker."

Thick soup, indeed.

Though the appearance of ducks is a new development without even a speculative explanation, the Wall Street Journal has tentatively linked the pig carcasses to questionable "deadstock disposal" practices in the country.

Any outbreak of disease at large Chinese farms can trigger questionable disposal techniques of dead animals, explains CBS , particularly as officials have cracked down on the sale of illegal and contaminated pork products. Given the sudden lack of illegal buyers, it appears farmers have begun dumping tainted animals in the river.

"Ever since the police have stepped up efforts to crack down on the illicit market of sick pigs since last year, no one has come here to buy dead pigs, and the problem of pig dumping is worse than ever this year," said an unnamed villager to the state-run Jiaxing Daily newspaper, in a translation provided by CBS.

Carcasses are only the latest ailment to tarnish China's waterways. According to a January report by Voice of America, 40 percent of China's rivers have been classified as "seriously polluted."

In February of this year, a Chinese entrepreneur by the name of Jin Zengmin offered his local environmental protection bureau chief 200,000 yuan ($32,000) to swim in a nearby river tainted by industrial runoff. The officer refused, then explained his department was "not responsible" for the pollution.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/26/dead-ducks-china-river_n_2951711.html

lots of embedded stuff in the article at the link

If the pigs have given the ducks disease then it has crossed a species barrier.  Humans could be next.  Big worries.

Wow the count is up to 16,000 pigs. That's a lot of pigs.
1,000 dead ducks is nothing as far as a count. Why they died is more important.
I am sure a message is being sent. Rather it is heard or reacted on is still in question.
And I did want to have pork chops tonight. Duck was my second choice.
Guess Deuem is on a diet.