Pig-Fattening Rituals.

[Cultural Speciesism Around the Globe.]

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Taipei, Jan. 20 (CNA) An animal rights group on Friday urged a temple in New Taipei City to abandon a decades-old ritual that involves fattening pigs, saying it was an inhumane practice. 

The temple in the city’s Sanxia District usually holds an annual “God Pig” contest during the Lunar New Year and awards a gold medal to the contestant with the heaviest pig, which is seen a symbol of blessings. 

In an effort to produce heavy pigs, many people force-feed the animals, said Chen Yu-min, director of the Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan (EAST). 

“This is a very inhumane practice,” she said at a press conference. 

The winner of the temple’s “God Pig” contest this year was the owner of a pig that weighed 1,061 kilograms, 10 times the normal weight. 

Chen said such obesity in pigs can cause serious heart diseases or even sudden death. 

The EAST said it is therefore issuing a public call for the temple to stop the contest and for people to boycott the religious ceremonies at such temples in protest against pig-fattening rituals. 

“We took up the issue with the temple in 2007,” EAST CEO Chu Tseng-hung told CNA. At the time, they said they would consider suspending the “God Pig” contest, but it has continued, he added.