Here’s a cartoonist version of diving pigs which is a reality in China.  The reality is more sobering.

In a Competition at Shiyan Lake in Changsha, China, diving Pigs are popular amusement for visitors.  These young pigs are pushed if not thrown off diving platforms into pools and ponds before paddling back to land. Yet aquatic swine are not exclusive to China. Australia does it too, while Pigs frolic in the surf with tourists in the Bahamas. It seems brutal and inhumane to sightseers in china we are told, but is also a tourist draw and a selling point for pork. Over half the world’s pigs are raised in China.

Entrepreneurs claim that diving pigs are healthier, leaner and tastier. In Zhejiang located in Shandong Province there is an amusement Park called the Piggy Kingdom Family Park. Pigs are forced to dive and swim. Animal Rights advocates have been restrained in their criticism but they do say that “farmers should base exercise “on the needs of animals, not the amusement of humans.” Pig diving proponents insist they are doing both.

The wide spread popularity of the sport is remarkable but before we Westerners become overly sanctimonious and outraged perhaps we should consider the popularity of Dog and Rooster fights throughout the world. At least this sport is apparently less violent. NY Times, May 7, 2015