Locals blame tourists for death of Bahamas swimming pigs

A post shared by The Swimming Pigs (@theswimmingpigs) on Feb 27, 2017 at 8:13am PST

The lovable swimming pigs of Bahamas have become quite an attraction for tourists visiting the Big Major Cay Island, popularly known as the Pig Beach.

However, much to the despair of the island locals, seven hogs have reportedly been found dead, and they are pointing to tourists as the primary culprits.

According to the Guardian, out of the 22 pigs that the island has, only 15 are seen roaming the island, allegedly due to the inappropriate behavior of some of the vacationers.

“The pigs were given the wrong food,” Wayde Nixon, one of the pig owners, told the news outlet. “Right now, it’s blowing out of proportion with people, anybody bringing food there, anybody doing what they [want to] do,” he said.

“We have people coming there giving the pigs beer, rum, riding on top of them―all kind of stuff,” he added.

Despite the malicious claims, Bahams Humane Society President Kim Aranha said they were still  uncertain what caused the pig’s deaths, and if they were accidental or incidental.

“It could just be a horrible accident, where they ate something poisonous,” she said. “It could be malicious, but I don’t really see why someone would go out of their way to hurt those lovely animals.”

Results of the humane society’s investigations are expected to be released next week.

For preventive measures, tourists will still be able to visit the pigs, but will no longer be permitted to feed them.

Meanwhile, the lovable pigs first appeared on the island after Nixon and his business partner, Don Rolle, tried to start a farm in the 1990s. The bid failed, but the charm of the free-roaming, swimming pigs ended up becoming a must-see for island visitors.

Aside from Major Cay, the adored swimming pigs can be seen in the neighboring White Bay Cay. In their Instagram account @theswimminpigs, beach officials clarified some confusion regarding the pigs’ death, adding that the perished hogs did not belong to their island.  Khristian Ibarrola /ra

Hi everybody, we have been getting a lot of enquiries regarding the death of some of the swimming pigs. We want to clarify that this very sad and unfortunate incident did not happen on the island featured on this Instagram. There are 2 locations for the Swimming Pigs. The affected pigs lived on a different island from us, called Big Major Spot, which is 60 miles away from where our pigs live. We’re located on a tiny little island named White Bay Cay, which is near the island of Great Exuma. This Instagram covers the famous Swimming Pigs that have been featured on The Bachelor, HGTV, Access Hollywood, ABC News, etc. and our guests that meet them while out with us on our tours. Apparently, the pigs at Big Major’s Spot may have been given either liquor or spoiled food resulting in seven pigs inadvertently getting poisoned from this. The lesson that should be learned from this heart-breaking incident is that it is not funny to try and get the pigs, or any animal, intoxicated and please do not give them rotten or moldy food. We appreciate all your thoughts and wishes and wanted to let you know that Pickles, Panda, Squealy, and the gang here at White Bay Cay are all fine and healthy!

A post shared by The Swimming Pigs (@theswimmingpigs) on Feb 25, 2017 at 6:37pm PST