Lifes Cheap In Cuba

[sheena]

This video on the news is disgusting...the poor dog, raising a litter of pigs as well as it's own big pups

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-09-04/farm-dog-rears-piglets-in-cuba/2869828

[Atanquin]

Awww poor dog but apparently it took them on as ts own which is amazing

[raz]

I cant see what's so disgusting about it. Much much worse happens to animals in poor countries and it's not like the farmer has the bitch strung up to feed piglets. Cuba is extremely poor and you've got to remember that the western idea of having Rover sleeping on the bed in a comfy house where we spend more money on the pet industry than that guy will even earn is in the minority around the world.

[persephone]

I cant see what's so disgusting about it. Much much worse happens to animals in poor countries and it's not like the farmer has the bitch strung up to feed piglets. Cuba is extremely poor and you've got to remember that the western idea of having Rover sleeping on the bed in a comfy house where we spend more money on the pet industry than that guy will even earn is in the minority around the world.

..and those piglets could mean life or death for the family .

[Mags]

I read a newspaper report that also said the piglets were still suckling off their mum.

[sandgrubber]

I don't do vid's cause my connections are too slow. There's an interesting take on this story in Retrieverman's blogspot . . . he reprints the Huffington post article and comments on the dog's breed.

see: http://retrieverman.wordpress.com/2011/09/04/cuban-dog-raises-pigs/

Extract below:

from the Huffington post article

Farmer Mannorkys Santamaria said the piglets also take milk from their mothers, but when they see Yeti, they run to her for a meal. On a recent day the young porkers followed her around the farm as if she were their real mother.

“No one imposed this on the dog,” Santamaria said. “The piglets discovered this on their own and began nursing with her when they turned 15 days old.”

from Retrieverman's comments

My only correction to this article is this dog really isn’t a mixed breed.

She’s of a specific type of village dog native to the Caribbean and part of tropical Latin America.

The ones that are found in northern South America and some of the Lesser Antilles are being developed into a breed known as the Carib Tyke.

These dogs are not purebred in the same sense as a breed. They are a landrace that may still possess some Native American dog ancestry. This particular dog wouldn’t likely fit the breed standard being proposed for the Carib Tyke.