From Harper’s Weekly Review:<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m fielding calls day in, day out from farmers all over the country who are in a perilous position, where they have just got far, far too many pigs on their farm,\u201d said the chairman of the U.K.\u2019s National Pig Association; a nationwide pig cull looms.<\/em><\/p>\n This wouldn’t be because of Brexit, would it? Because I’ve been reading about how Britain’s trade with Europe has been cut off at the pass — “pass” being the English Channel or, as the French call it, la Manche.<\/p>\n Pigs are lovely animals, intelligent and “inscrutable.”<\/a><\/p>\n Whenever I think “pig,” two particular piggies come to mind. Let’s start with The Empress, the not-very-secret star of the hilarious British series, “Blandings.”<\/a><\/p>\n The doings around the remarkably stolid pig are exquisitely funny, but the funniest thing is the pig herself.<\/a> Her upturned, squooshed-in snout is so odd-looking, I found myself giggling whenever she was on camera. Right now I’m wondering why a weird snout on a huge pig is funny, when a weird snout on a Valais blacknose sheep is adorable.<\/a><\/p>\n Mysteries of life.<\/p>\n The other pig I’m thinking of is a Mangalitsa<\/a> named, ahem, Monica, who made a monster appearance on an episode of “The Yorkshire Vet.”<\/a><\/p>\n First, let’s talk about that type of pig which originated in parts east, such as Hungary, and\u00a0 is certainly…exotic. It looks more like a fat, dirty sheep than a pig because it is covered in thick fur. Or hair. Or whatever you’d call the growth covering its body. (If you click on the above “Mangalitsa” link, you’ll get quite a different impression of the pig itself; the farmer who is interviewed is a fan; I am not.)<\/p>\n Now let’s talk about Monica. She is the ugliest animal I’ve ever seen. Covered with filthy-looking gray-brown fur, she looks less like a real animal than a CGI from Lord Of The Rings. <\/em>Maybe a warg. And she has fangs, insofar as a viewer can determine, given that she’s sulking in a dark corner of her pen when we first meet her.<\/p>\n Ugly and truculent. And scary.<\/p>\n So Julian, the actual Yorkshire vet, has arrived at the farm because Monica is as they say “poorly,” and needs a shot of vitamins or whatever. Julian asks the deadpan, funny owner if Monica is “friendly.” Her face says it all.<\/p>\n So, as you’ll see when you watch the video, the plan is to use a very long pole at the end of which is a syringe which will allow Julian to inject the pig without getting too close. (Monica’s owner says to Julian, “Then run for your life.”) I leave it to you to jump out of your seat when Monica receives her injection. (I, for one, did not know pigs roar. And charge while roaring.)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From Harper’s Weekly Review: \u201cI\u2019m fielding calls day in, day out from farmers all over the country who are in a perilous position, where they have just got far, far too many pigs on their farm,\u201d said the chairman of … Continue reading