Activists slam `big pig' contests

With the Ghost Festival around the corner, animal rights groups yesterday criticized the custom of raising abnormally big pigs as sacrifices to the gods or ancestors, saying it is "brutality perpetrated in the name of religion and culture."

In Taiwan, super-heavy pig competitions are held in front of major temples during the Ghost Festival, which falls on Aug. 12 this year, and other festivals. The biggest pig wins the first prize, which is believed to bring luck to its breeder and supporters.

In addition, during elections, it is believed that offering heavyweight pigs as sacrifices to the gods will bring extraordinary luck to candidates. For this reason, many political figures financially support pig breeders.

According to activists, available records show that the biggest pig in Taiwan weighs 1,009kg, which is about 10 times the average weight of a normal pig.

"This competition, which involves animal abuse, should be abandoned," Chen Yu-min (陳玉敏), director of the Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan (EAST), said at a press conference yesterday.

Chen said that the pigs are usually force-fed for two to three years before being killed, with breeders paying no attention to illnesses resulting from the animals' obesity.

At the press conference, activists screened a six-minute documentary revealing the horrors the animals face.

"Most pigs were terrified. They screamed loudly and failed to control their bowels when they were moved to the scales by several people," Chen said.

Pigs winning top prizes are cruelly killed in public on a sacrificial altar, Chen said.

According to a recent investigation by EAST, hundreds of pigs are abused annually in Taiwan because of fat-pig competitions.

"Long-standing practices which violate basic humanity should be carefully reviewed," said Sechin Yeong-Shyang Chien (錢永祥), a research fellow at the Academia Sinica's social sciences institute.

Chien said that notorious practices of the past, such as slave-raising and foot-binding, were eventually abandoned by society.

Activists said that political figures and influential local personalities should take the lead in giving up the competition in order to correct social customs.

A recent controversial topic pertaining to the competition was about a pig raised to be killed at Yimin Temple(義民廟) in Hsinchu. A common wide-spread anecdote has it that the pig is "spiritually" supported by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).

Presidential Office spokesman James Huang (黃志芳) said yesterday that President Chen was asked by residents to support the pig when visiting Hsinchu last year.

At that time, according to Huang, President Chen smiled to enthusiastic residents to show his respect for the local custom, without giving a positive answer.

"Since then, the Presidential Office has not spent a cent on the pig," Huang said.

The controversial pig is to be killed after the Ghost Festival.

Representatives of the Yimin Temple said yesterday that animal conservationists should respect their culture and not over-react.