[Hiway]

Egypt orders slaughter of all pigs over swine flu
By MAAMOUN YOUSSEF, AP
Wed Apr 29, 10:57 AM EDT :huh: Egypt began slaughtering the roughly 300,000 pigs in the country Wednesday as a precaution against swine flu even though no cases have been reported here, infuriating farmers who resisted the move and demanded compensation.

The measure was a stark expression of the panic the outbreak is spreading around the world, especially in poor countries with weak public health systems. Egypt responded similarly in recent years to an outbreak of bird flu, which is endemic to the country and has killed two dozen people.

At one large pig farming center just north of Cairo, farmers refused to cooperate with Health Ministry workers who came to slaughter the animals and the workers left without carrying out the government order.

"We remind Hosni Mubarak that we are all Egyptians. Where does he want us to go?" said Gergis Faris, a 46-year-old pig farmer in another part of Cairo who collects garbage to feed his animals. "We are uneducated people, just living day by day and trying to make a living, and now if our pigs are taken from us without compensation, how are we supposed to live?"

Most in the Muslim world consider pigs unclean animals and do not eat pork because of religious restrictions. They are banned entirely in some Muslim countries including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Libya.

However in other parts of the Muslim world, pigs are often raised by religious minorities who can eat pork.

In Jordan, the government decided Wednesday to shut down the country's five pig farms, involving 800 animals, for violating public health safety regulations. Half the pigs will be killed and the rest will be relocated to areas away from the population, officials said.

In Egypt, pigs are raised and consumed mainly by the Christian minority, which some estimates put at 10 percent of the population. Health Ministry spokesman Abdel-Rahman Shaheen estimated there are between 300,000-350,000 pigs in Egypt.

"It has been decided to immediately start slaughtering all the pigs in Egypt using the full capacity of the country's slaughterhouses," Health Minister Hatem el-Gabaly told reporters after a Cabinet meeting with President Hosni Mubarak.

Egypt was among the countries hardest hit by bird flu. According to the World Health Organization, it has the world's fourth highest death toll — after Indonesia, Vietnam and China — and the largest outside of Asia. WHO has confirmed 23 deaths in Egypt and Egyptian authorities have reported three more deaths in recent weeks.

Bird flu started sweeping through poultry populations across Asia in 2003 and then jumped to humans, killing more than 250 worldwide.

Chickens used to roam every dusty street in every village across Egypt, and many of its city alleys too. But when the disease first appeared here in February 2006, 25 million birds were killed within weeks, devastating the poultry sector and particularly the family farmers. Chickens nearly all vanished from sight, slaughtered, abandoned or locked away by a population increasingly aware of, and frightened by, the disease's stubborn grip.

The latest measure appeared designed to avert a similar panic.

In the northern suburbs of Cairo Wednesday, health authorities killed 250 pigs and buried them. Angry farmers demanded compensation and provincial governors paid them around 1,000 Egyptian pounds (about $180) per head. The farmers asked for an official government decision to set a price for each pig slaughtered.

Agriculture Minister Amin Abaza told reporters that farmers would be allowed to sell the pork meat so there would be no need for compensation.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press

[Briana]

Figures.

I refuse to eat pork.

Pigs are smarter than many dogs, and I would never eat dog. I'd eat the muscle off my husbands femur before eating a dog...and I am a vegan..so yea, pigs are just off limits and its a shame they are raised for food in my opinion.

And no i am not some Peta pumping vegan who believes cows and chickens want to be our friends - eat'em up carnivores. I just get sad about pigs.

If you ever been around a pet pig, you may understand.

[Kodak]

I had pet pig once. Yes they are quite smart. My pet pig was named JP and she was a runt of the litter that got stepped on so I was asked if I wanted her. I said sure as all things injured or sick came my way. Anyways I would always have a lot of fun with JP and was sad when I gave her back to the breeder as I was leaving town. The breeder even had to give her away as she would get out of her pens and greet him at the door each morning. He did not want to butcher her so he gave to someone as a pet.

[RooZoo]

I like kangaroos, I think they're sexy. However, I've eaten kangaroo flesh on a couple of occasions.
Kangaroos infest Australia at plague proportions. I have no problem eating them.

That said, I won't eat dog or horse flesh. It's a double standard, I know. Still, I hold to it.
No reasoning, no compromising. I'll eat meat, just not dog or horse.

[dogcockz1]

So I'm to remain uneaten by you chaps... Yippee and oink oink yo ya all!
(re Egypt: pigs owned by Christian minority mostly. That may have been an influence on the decision ;) )


I'm waiting for the response when Camel-Flu starts!!!

D :cool:

[SSG HairBear58]

so will theis raise or lower the price of bacon))

sad to see the panick and hopefully it will settle down and the owners be propely comped for thier loss,es

[KnotBigEnuf]

These sort of authority over-reactions are scary though...

Imagine if a supposedly dangerous disease affecting humans, (supposedly) transmittable by dogs were to appear.

What would it take before these dictatorial types ordered the destruction of ALL DOGS ?! :(

[Marga.FP]

Nope, there is more people to cherrish dogs than pigs (or previously cows, chicken, ducks) so I bet there will be a resistance building if such a decision have to be taken.

Marga.FP

[KnotBigEnuf]

Of course there would - but that doesn't mean it wouldn't happen.

There was resistance here when the government ordered the killing of cattle a few years ago, some people had pet animals, and some individuals were considered to be "sacred" - the authorities went in mob handed with riot police to kill them...

[Bear_]

90 people get swine flu and everybody wants to wear a mask or boycot pork. Over a million people have AIDS and no one whants to wear a condom.

What the Hell?

This post has been edited by Crystalight: 04 May 2009 - 10:41 AM

[The Wolf]

Whart? Some gets a cold, and Egypt, with no contagium, expects a bubonic plague, what via... pigs. Swine flu only killed Mexicans, because it only adjusted to Mexicans, then Mexicans spread a flu, that we are so immunised to, its less than a goddamn fucking cold.

I think they really just wanted an excuse to have a big feast before Ramadan or something.

[dogcockz1]

"Swine flu only killed Mexicans, because it only adjusted to Mexicans,"

Damn: sounds like you've just solved the US immigration problem all by yourself! :)

D :cool:

Bred by the CIA in a fruit-fly near you...!

[psychotic]

eh the media hype and fear of "desease" is so strong around.
It has been alot more fatal in Mexico,prob because of poor water I heard. and old people are more likely to get strongly effected. Most of the time otherwise its like a normal flue.
I heard of killing off animals because of sickness and desease before. A few times it actually seems allmost necisarry. and this time it doisn't