Unsatisfied with “hogwash,” “bay of pigs,” and “bacon” — all perfectly good and scurvy ways of describing the deathcarts of pig carcasses dredged out of the upper regions of Shanghai’s Shuangpu River this week — we now have “pigfestation,” courtesy of Bloomberg Businessweek:
What’s behind Shanghai’s pigfestation? Chinese media say the carcasses come from upstream farms, where a large number of pigs died in January and February. While the official Xinhua news agency said on Tuesday that there has been “no mass swine epidemic” in the area, authorities have identified the cause of death for at least some of the animals as an outbreak of porcine circovirus, the Shanghai Daily reported on Monday, citing the city’s agricultural commission.
And here’s Sina with the latest death count:
The number of dead pigs collected from Shanghai’s Huangpu River has increased to 5,916, Shanghai authorities announced Tuesday.
Lovely. Remember when we first reported this story, and 900 seemed like a lot of wasted pork? Those were the days.
Pigfestation Threatens to Spoil Party for China’s New Leader (Bloomberg Businessweek, h/t Barbara Demick)
(This story first appeared on BJC Kinja)
