Meet Pig: The Unluckiest Pig in the World

In perhaps the saddest and strangest quarantining to occur in recent weeks, Afghan officials have locked their only pig out of sight in order to avoid a Swine Flu panic.

According to the World Health Organization, at least 81 people have died from severe pneumonia brought about by Swine Flu. The people most effected tend to be between the ages of 20 and 40. Just yesterday, the United States recorded its second death from Swine Flu, when a 33-year-old Texas woman succumbed to the virus after two weeks in a coma. Both she and the previous victim (a 23-month-old boy) had chronic underlying health conditions, which have not been made public. The woman, from Cameron County, marked the first death of a United States resident from Swine Flu. The baby she delivered by C-Section days before passing away, however, has not been reported to have contracted the virus.

Since late April of this year, various plans for quarantines and pork bans have been bandied about an increasingly nervous populous. Travel restrictions have been recommended, as has avoidance of public places, but an worldwide pig quarantine has yet to be instituted. Except in Afghanistan.

The Kabul Zoo currently houses the only known pig in Afghanistan. Since pork is strictly forbidden under Islamic law, and pigs deemed filthy animals, there has been no call to farm them or breed them. The pig in question, named "Pig," was actually a gift from the Chinese in 2002.

Originally part of a twosome, Pig arrived in the Kabul Zoo during the effort to rebuild it after the civil war in the 1990's left the zoo almost totally destroyed. The male and female pig were meant to be a breeding exhibition, and succeeded in producing an offspring. However, the offspring, along with Pig's partner, were all killed in a bear attack, leaving Pig alone in the zoo and the country.

Since that time, Pig has shown resilience, making friends with one of his fellow members of a small enclosure. In the group of goats and deer, Pig sticks close to a particular goat, typically trailing him around the yard.

Although it is unclear if any other zoos have quarantined their pigs, the director of the Kabul Zoo, Aziz Gul Saqib, decided to put Pig into his winter enclosure during the Swine Flu pandemic. Afghanistan has yet to have a case of Swine Flu reported, and does not offer direct flights to effected nations.

WHO may ask drug makers to switch to H1N1 flu vaccine, http://www.cnn.com

Afghanistan's Only Pig Locked Up: Official, www.google.com/hostednews