The Great China Pig Float

The great Chinese pig float is on.

While the media is transfixed with the final figure of floating dead pigs found Shanghai’s Huangpu River, which at last check was crossing 6000, a bigger problem has emerged: pig carcasses have now been spotted in a different river, which means that the worst case scenario could be in play. From Shanghai Daily: ‘Pig carcasses now found in Hubei river: Around 50 pig carcasses were today discovered in a tributary of the Yangtze River in Yichang City, Hubei Province, China Central Television reported. Some of the bodies were highly decomposed, said the report. The carcasses were spotted floating near Wulong Village. The local government has launched an investigation and dispatched officials to the scene. The news has attracted much public attention as it follows the discovery of thousand of dead pigs in Shanghai’s Huangpu River, a branch of the Yangtze. By late yesterday, almost 6,000 pig carcasses had been fished out of the river and an investigation into where they came from is ongoing.”

Here is a bit from the AP quoted at Zero Hedge.

The surge in the dumping of dead pigs — believed to be from pig farms in the upstream Jiaxing area in the neighboring Zhejiang province — has followed police campaigns to curb the illicit trade of pork products harvested from diseased pigs.

Shanghai authorities said the city has taken proper measures to safely dispose of the pig carcasses and that the city’s water plants are stepping up efforts to disinfect public water and testing for six common swine viruses.

The Shanghai government reported no major swine epidemic, widespread pig deaths or dumping of pigs within the city boundaries of Shanghai.

The state-run China News news agency said Monday that Zhejiang province had reported no swine epidemic but that a provincial agriculture official blamed cold weather for the deaths of the pigs.

The official, who was identified only by his family name Gu, told China News that the practice of dumping dead pigs into rivers lingers among some pig farmers in the city of Jiaxing. “We are still introducing the practice of collecting dead pigs,” Gu was quoted as saying.

Shanghai authorities have been pulling out the swollen and rotting pigs, some with their internal organs visible, since Friday — and revolting images of the carcasses in news reports and online blogs have raised public ire against local officials.

Dumping the diseased animals in a river is one of the fastest ways to spread the pig diseases. And if those diseases also affect humans? We will know in less than a month possibly in as little as ten days.