Some Pig

News from China, by way of a New York Times blog. One very resilient pig survived the May 2008 Sichuan earthquake, living, under a pile of rubble, for thirty-six days on charcoal and water. He’d lost two-thirds of his weight. The pig, renamed Zhu Jianqiang (or Strong-Willed Pig), has become a national celebrity in China. Now living in a “livestock exhibit” in a museum near the city of Chengdu, Strong-Willed Pig has also developed something of an attitude, according to the humans he now lives among. He eats a lot (and has gained weight), doesn’t want to move much and is, at times, ornery. One could see this as a recompense of sorts on Strong-Willed Pig’s part. While he’ll now escape slaughter, about 700 million pigs in China this year won’t; they’ve been dispatched for pork. Or it could be that Strong-Willed Pig is responding to trauma the way many people do, if they can: eating to excess. He’s, like all farm animals, an individual. Here’s what one of Strong-Willed pig’s caregivers had to say: [He’s] “has developed a temper that many of its fans may not want to see.” Or, perhaps, to eat. Some pig indeed.