Wenchuan quake survivor pig no more

A PIG that rocketed to stardom after it was found among ruins 36 days after a fatal earthquake in Wenchuan County of Sichuan Province in 2008, passed away on Wednesday evening.

About 10:50pm on Wednesday, the legendary 100-kilogram pig died of old age at 13, which is equivalent to 100 years old in human years.

Before the Wenchuan earthquake, the pig was raised in Tuanshan Village, Longmenshan Township, under Pengzhou, City in southwest China’s Sichuan Province.

On May 12, 2008, when the deadly magnitude-8.0 earthquake hit Sichuan’s Wenchuan County, the pig was buried in the ruins of its sty and managed to survive on mere raindrops and charcoal for 36 days until it was rescued on June 17, 2008.

The pig weighed only about 50kg, about one-third of its original weight when it was found by the rescuers.

Its great tenacity and eagerness for life during the natural disaster moved many Chinese at that time, as more than 87,000 people were reported dead or missing and millions were left homeless due to the earthquake.

Citizens fondly named the pig “Zhu Jianqiang,” meaning strong pig in Chinese.

It had been raised in Jianchuan Museum, one of China’s biggest private museums, since June 22, 2008.

The museum built a comfortable enclosure for the animal, with specialized keepers and regular doctor visits. It once weighed more than 150kg.

The pig was originally bred for slaughter. If it had not been for the earthquake, he would have been sold and processed in less than a month.