Miracle pig for museum

By Lydia Chen  |   2008-6-24  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

A PIG in the earthquake-hit Sichuan Province has been bought by a local museum and named "Mr Strongwill" after it survived 36 days under quake debris.

The pig, raised by Wan Xinming in Tuanshan Village of Pengzhou City, near the epicenter Wenchuan, was named "Zhu Jianqiang" by Fan Jianchuan, the curator of the Jianchuan Museum in Chengdu. Fan paid 3,008 yuan (US$438) to buy the pig, the Chengdu Business Daily reported yesterday.

The family name "Zhu" has the same pronunciation as pig in Chinese while "Jianqiang" means being strong willed.

Fan said he will keep the pig until it dies. He added that the folk museum donated 10,000 yuan to Wan.

The pig, lost nearly 100 kilograms, was found alive by soldiers on June 17, astonishing vets believing pigs could live only for five days without food and water.

The pig, used to consume 30 kilograms of water and food a day, was said to have eaten charcoal to survive in the cramped space which is less than half a meter high, the report said. Veterinarian Pan Banggui told the newspaper that the pig was lucky that the space was so small that it could not move, which allowed it to conserve energy.