Stomach-churning symbols of
the environmental calamity facing China have never been in short supply: exploding watermelons, toxic running tracks, rivers that flow the colour of blood.
Now, the world’s number one
polluter brings you: porcine mass graves.
That was the foul-smelling
surprise environmental inspectors unearthed in the eastern province of Zhejiang
last month during an inspection linked to Beijing’s much-vaunted war on pollution.
On the rural outskirts of
the city of Huzhou officials found a clandestine burial site where the
carcasses of tens of thousands of diseased pigs had been illegally
interred.
The anonymous whistleblower
who alerted officials to the crime said it was not clear quite how many putrefying
pigs had been buried. “But there must be so many as the stink was so strong
that it caused several excavation workers to throw up,” they were quoted as
saying by the Chinese magazine Caixin.
China’s official news agency, Xinhua, said about 300
tonnes of diseased pig carcasses were thought to have been dumped in the area.
The whistleblower told Caixin he suspected tens of thousands of dead animals
lay beneath the soil. Since excavations began on 30 August, more than 220
tonnes of animal remains have reportedly been brought to the surface.
Reports in China’s
state-run media suggested locals had spent years complaining about a rancid and
mysterious stench that lingered around their homes. But word of the problem
appears only to have reached the environment ministry’s ears last month.
Five suspects who worked
for a local medical and industrial waste disposal company were detained on
suspicion of burying the diseased animals on the slopes of Zhejiang’s Dayin
mountain.
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Xinhua tried to play down
the risks posed by the dead animals. “No human-infecting pig diseases, such as
H5 and H7 bird flu viruses and foot-and-mouth disease” were found in samples
tested by the authorities, it reported. But Caixin said that authorities had
yet to test local waterways and a reservoir for possible contamination.
Residents of one village, Qingcaowu, had started drinking bottled water for
fear that residue from the graves might have reached their source of drinking
water.
“Once the carcasses decay,
pollutants will certainly make their way into the soil and the reservoir,” one
resident said. The villager spoke on condition of anonymity since authorities
had reportedly ordered locals not to speak to journalists about the incident.
China’s smog-choked skies – which some blame for up to
one million premature deaths each year – are by far the best documented aspect
of its environmental crisis. But activists say water and soil pollution
represent equally severe, if less immediately visible threats.
In 2012 one senior official
admitted that 20% of Chinese rivers were absolutely toxic. According to the Economist, a 2014 government
survey found that 250,000 sq km – an area equivalent to all of Mexico’s arable
farmland – had been contaminated by pollutants including lead, cadmium and
arsenic.
In Zhejiang, Caixin said drone footage seen by its reporters showed
the grim clean-up operation that was now under way. Workers in protective
clothing could be seen lifting black objects, thought to be decayed pig
carcasses, from several large pits. The objects were then loaded into cardboard
boxes that were taken away for cremation. A photograph showed one official
surveying the putrid scene: his right hand held a camera with which he was
documenting the mass grave, his left was clasped over his nose to protect it
from the stench.
FROM THE DESK OF
ANIMAL RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA
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