That'll do pig, zoo tells Afghanistan's only porker

By Golnar Motevalli

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan's only known pig trotted out of quarantine on Saturday, two months after he was locked away because of swine flu fears, to bask again in the mud at the Kabul Zoo.

The pig, a curiosity in Muslim Afghanistan where pork and pig products are illegal because they are considered irreligious, was quarantined because visitors to the zoo were worried it could spread the new H1N1 flu strain, commonly known as swine flu.

"Our people did not understand that the disease only passes from person to person and felt that the swine influenza might even be spread from the zoo because we have a pig here," zoo manager Aziz Gul Saqib told Reuters.

"Other zoos abroad told us not to worry ... when people began to realise the disease doesn't come from the pig itself we decided to release the pig," he said.

"Khanzir" -- Pashto for pig -- appeared unperturbed as a team of zoo workers used sticks to gently prod him out of his temporary concrete home into his usual enclosure of lush green shrubs and a mud puddle.

Unsuspecting zoo visitors scattered as Khanzir dashed through the centre of the zoo towards his enclosure.

One visitor, 17-year-old-Razaa, covered his nose and mouth with his t-shirt as the animal trotted past.

"It's a pig, it's the dirtiest thing, it might give me a disease," he said.