IT WAS lonely enough anyway, being the only pig in one of the world’s most devoutly Muslim countries. And that was before swine flu.
Now the white pig, name unknown, a resident of Kabul zoo, and believed to be the only such animal in a country where pork and pig-related products are illegal for religious reasons, has been placed in quarantine over fears that it could spread the virus.
“For now the pig is under quarantine. We built it a room because of swine influenza,” Aziz Gul Saqib, the director of the zoo, told Reuters. “We’ve done this because people are worried about getting the flu.”
While there is speculation that the new strain of the H1N1 virus could have originated on industrial pig farms before spreading to humans, there would appear to be little risk from a solitary pig, particularly in a country with no direct flight connections with Mexico, where the majority of the 1,000 or so worldwide swine flu cases have been identified so far.
The pig arrived as part of a consignment of animals despatched by China to restock a zoo that had become a symbol of Afghanistan’s descent into chaos during the country’s civil war and the rule of the Taliban.
Rebel fighters ate the zoo’s deer and rabbits and shot dead its elephant.
One militant climbed into the pen of the resident lion, Marjan, and was promptly killed and eaten. The man’s brother responded by throwing a grenade into the enclosure, leaving the beast blind and lame. – (Guardian service)