A Piglet With the Head of A Monkey
posted (May 8, 2008)

Few words can be said to introduce our next story – so we’ll keep it short. The animal you are about see was supposed to be a piglet but it looks more like a monkey- or a cross between the two. That’s right – 2 months ago a pig in Calcutta Village had piglets. One of them was born with the body of a pig and the head of what right now is anyone’s guess. It died two days later and so did the mother but the owners have preserved the strange piglet’s body and called us to see it today. Kissie Staine told us about the perplexing piglet that belonged to her brother.

Keith Swift,
What are we looking at?

Kissie Staine,
“A pig with a monkey head. To me it looks more like a howler monkey. I don’t know cause I am not really a specialist in monkeys or so but it is a monkey head and it is a pig within a pig body. People need to see something like this because just telling them about this they won’t believe. I didn’t believe but then look at that. To me I think it is a curse. I think people should see it and we were trying to get in contact with the zoo because I said we have a lot of tourists and that would attract tourists to Belize because seeing the news and watching Discovery Channel I have never yet see something like this.”

Keith Swift,
What does your brother plan to do with it?

Kissie Staine,
“Well he was planning to see if he could sell it as maybe a tourist attraction or something. We would like to know why that happened like that because if this could happen in Belize then maybe eventually we will have babies, maybe we will have babies being born like this.”

They are hoping to sell the piglet which has been embalmed or at the least get a professional’s opinion on the strange freak of nature.

http://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=11132&frmsrch=1

Take 2 on the Weird Piglet
posted (May 9, 2008)

Last night we showed the piglet born with a deformed head, which its owner says looked like the head of a howler monkey. Everyone’s been talking about it because it seems to be weird to be true. And so to get to the bottom of it- this afternoon we went for a professional opinion and the popular view. Keith Swift has the story.

Keith Swift Reporting,
This afternoon the piglet with the weird head had drivers, bus passengers, and the average Joes and Jills on Albert Street doing a double take.

Woman #1: When I looked at I said what is that, how that looks so. It is the first time I history I see something look like this. I wonder who it mate with.

Man #1: That look funny. First time I’ve seen something like that. I don’t know what is going on with that. Humans beings will start having children like that soon.

Woman #2: To me it looks like a howler monkey with a pig body. I think it is possible…anything is possible. The face doesn’t look like a pig, it definitely looks like a howler monkey. I’ve been through Maypen and I’ve seen how howler monkeys look.

Woman #3: That looks weird, that is impossible. How could that possibly be a pig with a monkey face. God really works in mysterious ways.

To find out, this afternoon we took the piglet to a vet Dr. Jane Crawford at the Animal Medical Center and she says there is a simple explanation.

Dr. Jane Crawford, Veterinarian
It was just a deformity. It could be a mutation that happened in the uterus but it is just a deformed animal. It is not anything unusual. It is something that happens quite often in animals.”

Keith Swift,
Deformity is one thing but that head just does not look the head of a piglet.

Dr. Jane Crawford,
“Yeah I agree with that it doesn’t but it is just a mutation and you have different things that can cause mutation, sometimes if there are chemicals involved we could get the mutations that happen and sometimes if the two pigs are related, you could have these things happen because you have the recessive genes show up and you could have these happening. I agree it doesn’t look like something you see everyday but it is just a freak of nature, it just happens.”

But even Dr. Jane concedes that in her ten years as a vet - this is the worst she’s seen.

Keith Swift,
Have you ever seen something like that?

Dr. Jane Crawford,
“Oh not particularly like that but different forms.”

Keith Swift,
This is the worse you’ve seen?

Dr. Jane Crawford,
“Well yeah. I’ve never seen one like that but we’ve seen different levels of deformity but not like that.”

Keith Swift,
So maybe, again, I am being hypothetical, there could be something else that’s behind this?

Dr. Jane Crawford,
“Like what?”

Keith Swift,
Maybe medicine cannot explain this.

Dr. Jane Crawford,
“Well I am sure medicine can explain it but you would have to do a more in depth study to find out what caused it and to find out the conditions where the animal was and all the different conditions, all the environmental effects and all that. Right now you get, because you have a lot of toxic chemicals and you have a lot of spraying and oil these things can have an effect. So you have to find out and an investigation of where the animal was before we can say this is what happened.”

Keith Swift,
There is no way that somehow this is a monkey piglet?

Dr. Jane Crawford,
“No because you have to go on the chromosomes and there are two different species of animals and it just doesn’t happen.”

And while it’s a scientific impossibility, try telling that to the man or woman on the streets.

Again Dr. Jane Crawford stresses that she or any other doctor would need further study to determine the reason for the deformity. The piglet was born in Calcutta Village and there is a possibility that chemicals from the papaya and cane fields played a role. Again no one really knows. Kissie Staine isn’t sure what they will do with the piglet.

http://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=11151&frmsrch=1