. . . as pig gives birth to an ‘elephant’
’Mathapelo Letsepe
KOLO — The news that her only pig had delivered eight piglets quickly lifted ’Matumelo Notsi out of the sombreness that had haracterised the funeral she was attending in the village last Saturday. As the 49-year-old widow trudged home, figures were already flying in her head. In her estimates, selling the eight piglets would leave her M800 richer. At least she could pay school fees for the last of her four children, she enthused.
But a big shock was in store for her when she arrived home to see the new-born piglets: one of the piglets looked like an “elephant”! Word quickly spread around the village and dozens of people thronged Notsi’s homestead to see the “miracle”. Shocked Kolo villagers said it is the first time that such a thing had happened in their community. Notsi, whose totem is coincidentally Motloung which means elephant in Sesotho, said the incident was the work of the Devil. “Is it because of my clan? No, this cannot be. It must be a devil,” she told the Sunday Express.
“This is the first time that I’ve seen this.” The weird-looking creature, which died a few hours after birth, had deformities which made it appear like it had a trunk. It had a caramel colour while the rest of the piglets and the sow were black. She said the sow looked normal when it was expecting. So terrified by the abnormal offspring that Notsi was tempted to have all the piglets and their mother killed. But after calming down the following day, Notsi was brave enough to hold the dead piglet and show it to visitors before burying it.
She did not report the incident to veterinary or local government officials. Malefane Moleko, a veterinary surgeon later contacted by the Sunday Express, however said such unusual offspring were not rare in Lesotho. He said there was a possibility of deformities happening if there was any kind of disturbance during the formation of a zygote. A zygote is the product of the fusion of an egg and a sperm. “It is just an accident of development,” Moleko said. The birth of deformed pigs has surprisingly been widely reported around the world.
There have been reports of pigs with two faces or heads resembling other creatures. Researchers say most of the abnormalities have been characterised by hydrocephaly. Hydrocephalus is an abnormal expansion of cavities within the brain that is caused by the accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid. An opportunity was lost for an examination by scientists to establish what could have caused the deformity of Notsi’s piglet. But she was more worried about the lost opportunity to raise school fees for her child from the sale of the piglets.
Because of the deformed piglet, villagers were reluctant to buy the rest of the litter. “I thought I will be having M800 in a few weeks,” Notsi said. “I was happy to see the piglets, but was shocked to see the odd one.” Notsi said she already had customers just waiting for the sow to deliver. “I wondered whether people would still want to buy the piglets,” she said. “I wondered what the customers would say.” Notsi said she almost wept because the deformed piglet had cost her M800. She said she was tempted to kill the sow and the piglets on Sunday because she was angry. “I was really angry with it (the sow),” she said. Notsi is a widow and her family’s breadwinner.
She said breeding pigs was her major source of income. “I do not know what will happen because no one is willing to buy my piglets nymore,” she said.
’Mathapelo Letsepe
KOLO — The news that her only pig had delivered eight piglets quickly lifted ’Matumelo Notsi out of the sombreness that had haracterised the funeral she was attending in the village last Saturday. As the 49-year-old widow trudged home, figures were already flying in her head. In her estimates, selling the eight piglets would leave her M800 richer. At least she could pay school fees for the last of her four children, she enthused.
But a big shock was in store for her when she arrived home to see the new-born piglets: one of the piglets looked like an “elephant”! Word quickly spread around the village and dozens of people thronged Notsi’s homestead to see the “miracle”. Shocked Kolo villagers said it is the first time that such a thing had happened in their community. Notsi, whose totem is coincidentally Motloung which means elephant in Sesotho, said the incident was the work of the Devil. “Is it because of my clan? No, this cannot be. It must be a devil,” she told the Sunday Express.
“This is the first time that I’ve seen this.” The weird-looking creature, which died a few hours after birth, had deformities which made it appear like it had a trunk. It had a caramel colour while the rest of the piglets and the sow were black. She said the sow looked normal when it was expecting. So terrified by the abnormal offspring that Notsi was tempted to have all the piglets and their mother killed. But after calming down the following day, Notsi was brave enough to hold the dead piglet and show it to visitors before burying it.
She did not report the incident to veterinary or local government officials. Malefane Moleko, a veterinary surgeon later contacted by the Sunday Express, however said such unusual offspring were not rare in Lesotho. He said there was a possibility of deformities happening if there was any kind of disturbance during the formation of a zygote. A zygote is the product of the fusion of an egg and a sperm. “It is just an accident of development,” Moleko said. The birth of deformed pigs has surprisingly been widely reported around the world.
There have been reports of pigs with two faces or heads resembling other creatures. Researchers say most of the abnormalities have been characterised by hydrocephaly. Hydrocephalus is an abnormal expansion of cavities within the brain that is caused by the accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid. An opportunity was lost for an examination by scientists to establish what could have caused the deformity of Notsi’s piglet. But she was more worried about the lost opportunity to raise school fees for her child from the sale of the piglets.
Because of the deformed piglet, villagers were reluctant to buy the rest of the litter. “I thought I will be having M800 in a few weeks,” Notsi said. “I was happy to see the piglets, but was shocked to see the odd one.” Notsi said she already had customers just waiting for the sow to deliver. “I wondered whether people would still want to buy the piglets,” she said. “I wondered what the customers would say.” Notsi said she almost wept because the deformed piglet had cost her M800. She said she was tempted to kill the sow and the piglets on Sunday because she was angry. “I was really angry with it (the sow),” she said. Notsi is a widow and her family’s breadwinner.
She said breeding pigs was her major source of income. “I do not know what will happen because no one is willing to buy my piglets nymore,” she said.
Comments are closed.