Taiwan's 'holy pig' festival too much to stomach: animal rights activists
Swine 'kept in poor conditions and forced to keep eating'
Thousands of worshippers flocked yesterday to a "holy pig" festival in Taiwan, in which the carcasses of giant overfed swine are put on display, a custom deplored by animal rights campaigners as inhumane.
The annual ritual marks the birthday of Taoist god Zushi and is held in a square outside a temple in the district of Sanhsia.
Local owners compete to display the largest pig, with the winner taking home a trophy.
To a fanfare of traditional music played on gongs and horns, five pigs, killed the night before, were wheeled into the square with the heaviest weighing 714kg.
Their decorated bodies, with the bristles shaved into patterns, were displayed upside-down in brightly decorated vans, tiny heads dwarfed by bloated torsos.
"The pigs are presented to show our gratitude and respect to the god Zushi," Huang Chun-chi, who works at the temple, said.
Animal rights activists say pigs are kept in small enclosures and hit on the snout to force them to keep eating.
