1,000 dead ducks found in Chinese river one week after 16,000 dead pigs were found there-in

At least 1,000 dead ducks have been found floating in a Chinese river, just days after the bodies of more than 16,000 pigs were pulled out of Shanghai’s main waterway.

The new discovery has triggered more concern over the safety of the nation’s drinking water.

The duck carcasses were fished out of the Nanhe river in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan, officials confirmed.
They were found in over 50 woven bags but the bodies were so badly decomposed it was impossible to tell how they died.

The news came as Shanghai environmental workers said almost all of the dead pigs had been removed from the Huangpu river, which supplies 22% of the city’s drinking water.

Government officials said 98 pigs were recovered on Sunday and 93 on Saturday, the first time the daily toll had fallen below a hundred in days.

Images over the last fortnight of dead hogs in China’s commercial hub has proved a major embarrassment to the city, which is seeking to grow as an international financial centre.

Samples have tested positive for porcine circovirus, a common swine disease that does not affect humans.

It was unclear last night what killed the ducks. Their bodies were disinfected and buried in plastic bags three metres underground, said Liang Weidong, a deputy director in Pengshan’s publicity department.
He said the authorities were first made aware of the ducks a week ago but insisted the dead birds had been handled safely and posed no danger to residents or livestock.

An initial investigation suggested they originated from upstream and were not dumped by local farmers. The Nanhe river is not a source of drinking water.

Mystery remains over the exact origin of both the dead hogs and ducks.

‘Dead pigs, dead ducks... this soup is getting thicker and thicker,' wrote one person with the username Baby Luck on weibo, China’s version of Twitter.

‘The dead pigs haven’t even disappeared yet, and now the dead ducks emerge - does this society enjoy being competitive?” wrote netizen sugarandsweet.
Culled from MAIL ONLINE