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Monday, July 6, 2009

Khanzir, the Afghan Pig, Gets a Dirty Deal

Afghanistan's only known pig trotted out of quarantine Saturday, two months after he was locked away because of swine flu fears, to bask again in the mud at the Kabul Zoo.

The pig, a curiosity in Muslim Afghanistan where pork and pig products are illegal because they are considered irreligious, was quarantined because visitors to the zoo were worried it could spread the new H1N1 flu strain, commonly known as swine flu. . . .

Unsuspecting zoo visitors scattered as Khanzir dashed through the center of the zoo toward his enclosure.

One visitor, 17-year-old-Razaa, covered his nose and mouth with his t-shirt as the animal trotted past.

"It's a pig, it's the dirtiest thing, it might give me a disease," he said.

Two goats grazed quietly as their portly, pink porcine pal enthusiastically rubbed his snout in a small pool of mud.

Some human onlookers were not so comfortable. "It is very haram (forbidden) and should not even been looked at. I don't think it should even be in the zoo," said another visitor named Nassim.

link: That'll do pig, zoo tells only porker | Oddly Enough | Reuters


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