Sunday, May 03, 2009

Swine Flu, Egypt, slaughter

Apparently the Egyptian government have had all the pigs in the country slaughtered, some 400,000 of them (according to the Times).

I wonder who owned all those pigs? It seems unlikely that the owners will be followers of Egypt's majority religion, since pig products are forbidden to them. It seems likely then that the livelihoods principally affected will belong to members of Egypt's minority religions — a doubtless unintended consequence. I wonder how well they will be compensated?