Animal stars die after pigging out on tourist booze
TOURISTS have been blamed for killing some of the Caribbean’s famous swimming pigs by feeding them alcohol.
Images of the pigs paddling in turquoise water have made Big Major Cay – or Pig Beach – famous. However, seven or so of the animals have reportedly been found dead, and the man who started the colony says tourists are to blame. Wayde Nixon, who claims to have created the colony 30 years ago, blamed visitors for putting the animals in danger by feeding them. He told The Nassau Guardian that the pigs had become too much of a tourist attraction.
“It’s blowing out of proportion, with people, anybody bringing food there, anybody doing what they [want to] do,” he said. “We have people coming there giving the pigs beer, rum, riding on top of them, all kind of stuff.” About 15 pigs are thought to be left in the colony.
Animal protection workers disputed the suggestion that the animals died as a result of consuming alcohol.
“It could just be a horrible accident where they ate something poisonous,” Kim Aranha, society president of the Bahamas Humane Society told the Tribune 242 website.