A LEADING animal rights group criticised Egypt on Monday for using 'shocking and cruel' methods to slaughter the country's pigs over swine flu fears, responding to a YouTube video that showed men skewering squealing piglets with large kitchen knives and hitting others with crowbars.
The controversy was the latest swirling around Egypt's decision to kill all the country's 300,000 pigs out of concerns they will spread swine flu. But the World Health Organisation has said it is entirely unnecessary because the illness is being spread through humans.
The government decision also brought accusations that Muslims are attacking minority Christians, who breed the animals. Most Muslims consider pigs unclean and do not eat pork.
The Egyptian government has denied the claims and subsequently expanded its rationale for the slaughter to confront a long-standing hygienic problem posed by pigs raised by garbage collectors who live amid the refuse in Cairo slums.
There were also protests within Egypt's parliament. Christian lawmaker Seyada Ilhami Gress expressed anger on Sunday over the 'government's random and inhumane way of slaughtering the pigs'.
Responding to the criticism, Parliament Speaker Ahmed Fathi Sorour said the killing should be done in a 'civilised and humane way because animals have rights like human beings'. But he did not specifically comment on the video.
Both Muslim and Christian lawmakers supported the government late last month when it issued its order to kill the country's pigs, even though no swine flu cases have been reported.
The Ministry of Agriculture issued instructions at the time that owners should kill their pigs by piercing their hearts with a needle and then slitting their throats before burying them in pits lined with quicklime. But the video showed that those recommendations were not being heeded.
The head of the Egyptian Society of Animal Friends, Ahmed el-Sherbini, said in a statement published Monday in Al-Dustour newspaper that some of the pigs were being buried alive. The government said it was not aware of the practice.
The World Health Organisation says the H1N1 virus that has sickened more than 8,000 people around the world and killed 76 is being spread by humans, not pigs, and pork products are safe to eat. -- AP
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