Earthweek's Pig of the Year!

“We used to take it out for a walk every morning and afternoon, but now it's too lazy, and too fat, to do it. So we're feeding it only twice a day.” — Zhu Jianqiang’s keeper.

Though I usually get a direct RSS feed to any story about oversized Chinese pigs, I found this delightful year-end story via Earthweek, the weekly Universal Press feature by Steve Newman that he calls a diary of the planet. For the past 21 years, Steve has used Earthweek to chronicle stories of climate change, natural disasters and trends in animal behavior -- basically anything having to do with Earth's natural history. 

This Friday on Earthweek.com, Steve will be posting a series of stories looking back at the big events of the past year. However, it's the story of Zhu Jianqiang that I'd like to draw attention to today. 

'Pig of the Year' a Hero in China

A pig that survived China’s catastrophic Sichuan earthquake on May 12 by eating charcoal and drinking rainwater while trapped under debris for 36 days has been voted the country’s most inspiring animal, according to state media.

The swine, known as Zhu Jianqiang, which means Strong Pig, was sold after the quake to the Jianchuan Museum, an attraction that has promised to keep him away from the butcher as a reminder of the nation's resolve to cope with the disaster.

The online forum Red Net said the 2-year-old pig “vividly illustrates the spirit of never giving up, and has become a model for Chinese entrepreneurs” amid the current economic downturn.

But the animal apparently hasn’t tightened its belt due to the tough times.

“It's gotten fatter and lazier by the day,” the China Daily quoted a museum staff member as saying.

And the pig’s keepers say it “has developed a temper that many of its fans may not want to see.”

- LW

Comments

[Kiki]

charcoal and rainwater? ... I could have saved a lot of money in college.