Latest Pig Stories

The government said Friday four more people infected with the Ebola-Reston virus have been discovered in the Philippines and the possibility of pig-to-human transmission cannot be dismissed.Health Secretary leader Francisco Duque told a news conference that it was not a major health risk, but the government is testing people who might have been in contact with sick pigs at hog farms placed under quarantine since October of last year.Duque said the Ebola-Reston virus is both an animal and...

British actress Joanna Lumley says she re-enacts the alleged mistreatment of pigs on European farms in a forthcoming documentary. Lumley said in the Jamie Saving Our Bacon documentary she will be penned inside a steel cage typically reserved for pregnant sows in an attempt to draw attention to the allegedly horrendous conditions on pig farms throughout Europe, The Sunday Times of London reported. The conditions they face are both physically and psychologically harrowing, Lumley tells TV...

Global health officials are investigating a strain of the Ebola virus found in dead pigs in the Philippines. The Reston strain had previously only been seen in monkeys, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday. Peter Cordingley, a spokesman for the World Health Organization's office in Manila, said it is unclear whether the virus holds any risk to human, the newspaper said. When a virus jumps species, in this case from monkeys to pigs, we become concerned, particularly as pigs are much closer...

Human and veterinary medicine could receive a big boost through use of larger animals, especially pigs and dogs, in research, with Europe at the forefront. There is the prospect of bringing drugs to the market more quickly at less cost, as well as accelerating progress in other forms of therapy, notably the use of stem cells in regenerative medicine. The potential in this new field was discussed at a recent workshop organized by the European Science Foundation (ESF), which called for a...

AMES, Iowa -- A new study is raising questions about the effectiveness of small, metal crates for pregnant pigs that animal welfare groups say are cruel and inhumane.Researchers from Iowa State University found that allowing pregnant pigs to move freely in group housing structures called hoop barns could be less costly and just as productive as the narrow, individual crates."What we found was that there appears to be no real difference in pig performance between the two," said...

AMES, Iowa -- Max Rothschild has been trying to "build" a better pig for almost 30 years, since he took a job cleaning up after the hogs at his alma mater, the University of California, Davis.He's now a renowned swine scientist who has traded the dirty pigpens of his undergraduate days for a glistening Iowa State University laboratory dedicated to producing tastier chops, safer pork and healthier pigs.Rothschild is part of a national collaboration that earlier this year received a...

By Sophie Hardach SAN SICARIO, Italy (Reuters) - Austrian Alpine skier Nicole Hosp is banking on a pig to bring her luck during the Winter Olympics and she is looking forward to eating it after the season. Hosp's sister, Sonja, gave her the pig late last year as a lucky charm, and the animal is leading a peaceful existence in a sty near her village of Bichlbach. Not for long. Asked whether she will turn the pig into roast pork after the Olympics, Hosp said: "No, only once the season is...

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia has more feral pigs than people and exotic pests cost the economy more than A$700 million a year, damaging farms and the environment, a government report says. The 18-month inquiry found feral pigs, wild dogs, cats and rabbits were the most destructive pests in Australia, causing havoc for farmers, although feral deer, camels, foxes and horses also posed significant problems. "It is time to take control of this pressing problem facing Australian...

CANBERRA -- Australia has more feral pigs than people and exotic pests cost the economy more than A$700 million a year, damaging farms and the environment, a government report says.The 18-month inquiry found feral pigs, wild dogs, cats and rabbits were the most destructive pests in Australia, causing havoc for farmers, although feral deer, camels, foxes and horses also posed significant problems."It is time to take control of this pressing problem facing Australian farmers," inquiry...

By Tiffany WuHSINCHU COUNTY, Taiwan (Reuters) - Outside a dumpling store in Beipu village, an enormous black swine dubbed "god pig" lolls on a mound of sand, immobile except for the occasional grunt and twitch of the snout.Weighing a colossal 1,819 pounds, the male pig measured nearly 6 feet 7 inches from nose to tail, with its black eyes and charcoal-gray face barely discernible under the rolls of fat that distorted its hairy body.Its masters and their friends perched on stools...