- Title: Pigs run and jump on obstacle course at Chinese farm
- Date: 27th January 2019
- Summary: DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF ZHANGJIAKOU GREEN ISLAND HOLIDAY FARM LOOKING AT AND SPEAKING TO PIG PIG WALKING ON (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF ZHANGJIAKOU GREEN ISLAND HOLIDAY FARM, 40 YEARS OLD, XU LITAO, WHEN ASKED ABOUT THE CHALLENGES OF RUNNING PIG RACING, SAYING: "I don't know if this is appropriate or not to say. But actually for example we would like to dress them up in all sorts of clothes. We'd like to put make up on them too or clothes so they look beautiful. But these little pigs just won't cooperate. This (aspect) is perhaps not quite as perfect as we hoped." GOPRO SHOT FROM PIG'S PERSPECTIVE SHOWING PIG RUNNING OVER OBSTACLES/WALKING HEAD OF ANIMAL PARK AT ZHANGJIAKOU GREEN ISLAND HOLIDAY FARM, LI HAI, LOOKING ON GOPRO SHOT FROM PIG'S PERSPECTIVE SHOWING PIGS RUNNING OVER OBSTACLES PIGS RUNNING/PIGS STOPPING PIGS RUNNING PIGS RUNNING/PIG TRACK WORKER USING STICK (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) HEAD OF ANIMAL PARK SECTION (INCLUDING PIG RACE TRACK) OF ZHANGJIAKOU GREEN ISLAND HOLIDAY FARM, 54-YEAR-OLD LI HAI, SAYING: "In fact these baby pigs are the equivalent of... we rear them as if they were our children. They are close to our hearts. These elements are hard to deal with. You say is it hard? It is. You say, are they (the pigs) hard to manage? They are indeed (hard to manage)." PIGLET BEING GIVEN MILK LI AND FELLOW ANIMAL PARK WORKER FEEDING PIGLETS PIGLET BEING GIVEN MILK LI HOLDING DRIED CORN FEED LI AND FELLOW ANIMAL PARK WORKER FEEDING PIGLETS PIGLETS WALKING VARIOUS OF ANIMAL PARK VISITORS STANDING NEXT TO PIGLET ENCLOSURE AND LOOKING ON WORKER FEEDING PIGLETS (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF ZHANGJIAKOU GREEN ISLAND HOLIDAY FARM, 40 YEARS OLD, XU LITAO, SAYING: "After the past three or four months of running this (race track) the feeling is that visitors quite like it. So this year we have a new plan. For this we want to turn it into an animal competition. Because even if this does exist (elsewhere) in China, there is nowhere that especially focuses on animal competition. So the little pigs, the alpacas, and not forgetting the goats that we rear (at a site) far from here, they will all be included in the animal competitions. So more people, more visitors can try out being here and enjoying the competition." VARIOUS OF PIGS RUNNING AROUND TRACK (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) 26-YEAR-OLD ANIMAL PARK VISITOR (TOURIST), CURRENTLY WORKING FOR A GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENT, ASKED WHAT SHE THOUGHT OF THE PIG RACING, SAYING: "(They are) so cute! I used to think that pigs were a bit dumb. But now I realise they're very smart." VARIOUS OF PIGS RUNNING AROUND TRACK PIG RACE WORKER WALKING WITH STICKS PIGS WALKING BACK INTO ENCLOSURE WORKER CLOSING GATE OF ENCLOSURE/TAPPING PIG SHED WITH STICK
- Embargoed: 10th February 2019 15:22
- Keywords: pig racing piglets year of the pig Chinese new year zodiac pig farm
- Location: ZHANGJIAKOU, HEBEI PROVINCE, CHINA
- City: ZHANGJIAKOU, HEBEI PROVINCE, CHINA
- Country: China
- Reuters ID: LVA0059YX1CUX
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: The ten cross breed racing pigs at Zhangjiakou Green Island Holiday Farm are only around three months old. But they are already approaching retirement. Soon they will no longer be able to fit through the obstacles, one of the race track workers explained.
On a chilly, windy and dusty Sunday (January 27) and in front of only a handful of visitors they were put through their paces by several farm workers for one of the last training sessions ahead of their last racing hurrah. That will be during the Chinese New Year when the farm plans to hold an array of races and other pig-themed events to celebrate the year of the pig which begins on February 5.
Zhangjiakou Green Island Holiday Farm, whose pig track forms just part of its animal park, said it has been racing pigs since March last year. Races are put on whenever there are enough visitors to justify it. In busy months that can mean many times a day, every day. The farm told Reuters a normal race is just one lap long, then the pigs are allowed a ten minute break before racing again.
Up until now results have not been recorded. But deputy director of the farm, Xu Litao, said that will change soon. A new race track is under construction, the racing pigs will be given a number and spectators will be invited to "guess" which one will be the victor using an app as part of a wider "animal competition" at the farm. By "guessing" correctly spectators will be able to gain points which they can use to buy products including organic and free-range produce from the farm.
Once the ten cross breed pigs stop racing the farm said they will return to their free range farm and be replaced by a similar number of new racing piglets. The piglets mainly a local (black) breed, at around a month old are still tiny and being bottle-fed milk. But head of the farm's animal park and chief pig racing trainer, Li Hai, said they have already started training and will be racing soon. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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