What Killed The Bahamas Pigs? Tourists Might Be To Blame For Mysterious Deaths

The Bahamas were hit with a mystery last weekend as puzzling as it was tragic: At least seven famous swimming pigs died, their bodies found floating out at sea. Seven or eight pigs are still alive — which means half of the colony died — and the cause of death has not yet been determined.

Investigators were looking into the death, reported the local newspaper Tribune 242. Speculation about the reason for the deaths has ranged from tourists feeding the pigs human food and alcohol to rumors that the pigs have been poisoned.

“It’s really a mystery as to what killed these beautiful animals,” Bahamas Humane Society President BHS President Kim Aranha told the newspaper. “I believe most of the carcasses were in the ocean and we did act as quickly as we can. I think everyone who is an animal lover is concerned and if not, for our economy, can you imagine what impact this could have?”

The pig colony is famous on the island of Big Major Cay, where tourists go to swim and post photos with the pigs — they even had a cameo in the reality TV show “The Bachelor” last year.

Pigs can't fly but they sure can swim! Pig Beach, Exuma, Bahamas 🐷 pic.twitter.com/ENSioZCZpp
— Shalalala (@sh4ralara) February 7, 2017

Lately, though, visitors have been rambunctious, “giving the pigs beer, rum, rum riding on top of them, all kind of stuff,” Wayde Nixon, who owns the pigs, told another local newspaper.

The Bahamas government banned tourists from feeding the remaining pigs, and Nixon has petitioned the government to establish a safe viewing distance between the animals and tourists. Veterinarians examined the pigs and took samples. But as of Thursday there was no word about when the investigation would be concluded, and the cause of death is still a mystery.

“It could just be a horrible accident where they ate something poisonous,” said Aranha. “It could be malicious but I don’t really see why someone would go out of their way to hurt those lovely animals. I know there are a lot of silly sailors that go and feed them alcohol to try and get them drunk but that’s not to mistake them with the tour operators based out of Nassau who have treated them with excellent care.”