Swimming pigs of the Bahamas – The Truth About The Pigs
Many of us have heard of the famous swimming pigs of the Bahamas. In fact not too long ago, I posted a photo of them on my Instagram page.
At that point, I was completely unaware of the situation. The Bahamas are famous for warm water, beaches, sun, and their swimming pigs.
Upon first glance, the swimming pigs of the Bahamas seem like a harmless and natural thing. However, the recent attention to these swimming pigs has done so much harm to them. It’s now a popular tourist attraction where people go to express how cute these pigs are and swim with them.
The majority of the tourists who do this are not vegan or vegetarian and probably regularly eat pigs.
Photograph by Jim Abernethy
In March 2017, the total number of pigs that have been found dead was 7. The Bahamas Humane Society has expressed their concern with the pigs being a tourist attraction. The death toll is now closer to 10, which means there are only a handful of these swimming pigs of the Bahamas remaining.
There have been tourists who have given these pigs fatal doses of alcohol, which is absolutely unacceptable.
Many pigs have been found to have large amounts of sand in their stomach. Veterinarians have also stated that this is due to the tourists throwing food on the beach for the pigs to eat, so when they consume the food, they consume the sand as well.
Prior to all the attention that these pigs got, they used to forage for food on their own.
They would rarely go to the beach.
Unfortunately, with the huge increase in tourism in this area, the pigs have begun to rely on humans. The pigs now stay on the beach most of the time, and rarely go to the forest, which is where they previously spent most of their time.
This is a huge problem because due to the extremely hot temperatures and lack of shade on the beach, many of the pigs get sunburnt and dehydrated.
When they spent their days in the forest, they had shade and protection from the trees. Now they are exposed to high temperatures and sunlight all the time.
People giving the swimming pigs of the Bahamas beer, rum, and food, is unacceptable. Unfortunately, despite the many deaths, not much has changed.
Boats drive up to the pigs all the time, and it is still legal for tourists to feed the pigs and swim with them.
However, new rules are in the works to protect these animals. The Humane Society wants to create boundary lines so that people can still photograph the pigs and see them swim, but they will not be allowed to swim with them, touch them or feed them.
I hope this post opened your eyes to the truth about the damage that the tourism industry has done to these swimming pigs of the Bahamas.
They were living their lives just fine before the influx of tourists came along and changed everything for them.
If you go to the Bahamas, please do not partake in feeding or swimming with these pigs. Hopefully, new rules will be implemented soon to protect them.
