Over 2,200 dead pigs found in Chinese river prompting pollution alert

[jsr]

Source: Reuters

(Reuters) - Over 2,200 pigs have been found dead in one of Shanghai's main water sources, official media reported on Monday, triggering a public outcry in China where concerns over food safety and environmental pollution run high.

The carcasses were probably dumped in the Huangpu river in Zhejiang province and the total number was expected to increase, the Global Times quoted Xu Rong, director of Shanghai Songjiang District Environmental Protection Bureau, as saying.

"We have to act quickly to remove them all for fear of causing water pollution," she was quoted as saying as the national parliament, where pollution has been a hot topic, met in Beijing.

Officials were investigating, media said.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/11/china-pigs-idUSL3N0C30S120130311

[djean111]

1. I can't help thinking that this is the sort of thing that the Koch brothers want to be able to do

here. Dumpling dead animals in a river - they want to do this physically and in spirit - unregulated pollution with no consequences to anyone but the people who are affected.

[DetlefK]

2. 50 truckloads? 100?

And nobody noticed a thing?

[AndyTiedye]

4. Nobody Could See them Do It Because of the Smog

[jsr]

7. Residents said this was not the first time

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/12/world/asia/thousands-of-dead-pigs-found-in-chinese-river.html

BEIJING — More than 2,800 dead pigs have been found in a major river that flows through Shanghai, igniting fears among city residents of contaminated tap water, according to state news media reports on Monday...

Residents in Songjiang District, the area southwest of downtown Shanghai where most of the pigs have been discovered, said this was not the first time they had seen dead pigs in the Huangpu. But this time, the number was higher than in the past, according to the city government’s statement.

[L0oniX]

3. Pig food must be very toxic over there. Is Monsterano doing business over there too? n/t

[Cirque du So-What]

5. Perhaps a disease outbreak

Not sure, but I doubt the Chinese government has any agency nearly as vigilant as our FDA, which is hardly perfect.

[The Stranger]

6. How hideously disgusting, for so many reasons and on so many levels.

[alp227]

8. Have you seen the little piggies floating in the dirt?

[Heywood J]

9. "The government should really pay attention to people's lives"

I think this guy forgot where he lives...

[jsr]

10. China pulls out 5,916 pigs from Shanghai river

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_CHINA_DEAD_PIGS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Mar 12, 12:25 PM EDT
China pulls out 5,916 pigs from Shanghai river
DIDI TANG

BEIJING (AP) -- The number of dead pigs found floating in a river flowing into Shanghai has reached nearly 6,000.

The Shanghai municipal government said in an online announcement that 5,916 swine carcasses had been retrieved from Huangpu River by 3 p.m. Tuesday, but added that municipal water remains safe.

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.

[Marrah_G]

11. omg