Dead pigs turn up in Shanghai's water supply
Carcasses drift down from farming areas on Shanghai's Huangpu River
The agriculture and environmental protection departments in Shanghai's Songjiang district have pulled more than 3,300 dead pigs out of the Huangpu River, which flows through the municipality, in the past week.
Tests by the Shanghai Animal Disease Prevention and Control Centre on five sets of internal organs taken from the dead pigs has ruled out five other diseases including foot-and-mouth, hog cholera and blue-ear.
The website quoted local water and environmental authorities as saying tests of water samples collected from six sites on the river showed that the poor water quality on the Songjiang district section of the Huangpu, a source of drinking water for Shanghai, was similar to the same period last year.
However, it said tap water from water suppliers in Songjiang and several neighbouring districts was in line with national standards.
These days pigs are dying at a pace of over 300 a day
According to the dead pigs' ear labels, most of them floated down the river from Jiaxing, Zhejiang. Some were also from Pinghu in Zhejiang or from neighbouring Jiangsu province, xinmin.cn quoted a staff member at the Songjiang District Agricultural Commission as saying.