Two people are suspected of dumping pigs along the Yellow River, according to Banyuetan, a magazine run by China’s news agency Xinhua.
Chinese authorities have collected at least 48 pig carcasses discarded along the Yellow River in North China’s Inner Mongolia and are conducting tests, the state media said on Tuesday.
Pigs aren’t the only animals that have been recently dumped into the river, the Hindustan Times reports. Authorities also found sheep and cow carcasses. Authorities said they will be cracking down on the practice of discarding dead animals into the country’s waterways.
Regulations in China state that even if the animals die of normal causes, they must be disposed of safely and must not be thrown into the river. The local government reported that an emergency response group is investigating and deal with the incident immediately, the Global Times reports.
In addition to food and water safety concerns, the finding of these dead pigs is especially alarming as new outbreaks of African swine fever (ASF) continue to make headlines in the world’s largest pork-producing country.
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