The supply of pork, a delicacy for many people in the Ashanti region is expected to suffer a damaging blow following the banning of piggeries at Birim in the Sekyere Central district where the rearing of pigs is common.
Nana Baffour Agyenim, Chief of the town has decided to ban pig farming in his traditional area as a result of the destructive behavior of the animals.
Some pigs in the predominantly farming community have carried their destructive tendencies to a weird level by scavenging on the bodies of dead persons buried at the town’s cemetery.
The animals have in recent been digging up corpses from their graves and feasting on them. As a result of this, residents in the area are grappling with the stench and unpleasant sight of partially eaten corpses scattered all over the cemetery.
A bloody situation nearly occurred on Wednesday, when the town’s youth clashed with the owners of the pigs in angry reaction to the problem. The cutlass-wielding youth had decided to slaughter any pig they spotted at the cemetery digging up dead bodies or eating them.
But the their owners, mainly people of Gruse origin in the Upper East region who got wind of the plan, also stormed the cemetery fully armed and engaged the youth in a scuffle.
In the ensuing melee, members of both parties suffered varying degrees of cutlass wounds and were rushed to the hospital for medical attention. It took the intervention of the chief and his elders to calm tempers down to ensure that further casualties were not recorded as a result of the heated confrontation.
In an interview with Daily Guide, Nana Agyenim said he would ban pig rearing in order to prevent further clashes adding that as chief of the town, he could not afford to sit on the fence while the pigs behaved in such a terrible manner.
He noted that the development was not only an affront to the customs of the traditional area but also showed gross disrespect for the dead.
According to the chief, the dead ought to be given befitting burials therefore the animals’ behavior cannot be entertained insisting that the ban will be enforced.
Nana Agyenim said anyone who disregarded the ban would be dealt with drastically pointing out that people who want to rear pigs in the town had better relocate.
Source: Morgan Owusu, Kumasi
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