Thousands of dead pigs found floating in Chinese river

 

Workers fish out the carcasses of dead pigs from the Huangpu river: the cause of the incident is still under investigation. Photograph: Reuters

More than 2,800 pig carcasses have been discovered floating in a river that runs through Shanghai and feeds into its tap water supply, according to China's state media.
The number of dead pigs found in the Huangpu river rose from a few dozen on Thursday to more than 1,200 on Sunday, and again to over 2,813 on Monday afternoon as the city's cleanup effort intensified.
While the cause of the incident is still under investigation, water quality tests along the river have identified traces of porcine circovirus, a virus that can affect pigs but not humans. No signs of other diseases such as E coli, foot and mouth disease, or hog cholera have been found, and authorities say the city's tap water is still safe to drink.

 
Pollution has emerged as a source of widespread anger in China. 
Photograph: Aly Song/Reuters 
 
China's toxic smog, rubbish-strewn rivers and contaminated soil have emerged as a source of widespread anger over the past few weeks, as profit-minded officials jostle with aggrieved internet users over how to balance the country's economic development with its environmental concerns.
Experts say the groundwater in half of all Chinese cities is contaminated, most of it severely, and that soil pollution could be widespread in 15 of the country's 33 provinces.
Villagers found the first pig carcasses near a water treatment plant on a creek upstream from Shanghai on Tuesday, but clean-up efforts did not begin until the weekend, according to the news portal Xinmin Online. Shanghai initially dispatched six barges to remove the corpses, and added another six when the problem's scope became clear.

   
Dead pigs collected by sanitation workers from Shanghai's main waterway. 
Photograph: Peter Parks/AFP/Getty Images 

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