Egypt orders slaughter of all pigs over swine flu
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Egypt's overwhelmingly Muslim population does not eat pork due to religious restrictions. But the animals are raised and consumed by the Christian minority, which some estimates put at 10 percent of the population.
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http://www.boston.com/news/health/ar...top_swine_flu/
Egypt starts pig slaughter, some farmers resist
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Pigs are mainly raised by the country's Christian minority.
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Egypt Orders Slaughter of All Pigs Over Swine Flu
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In Egypt, pigs are raised and consumed mainly by the Christian minority, which some estimates put at 10 percent of the population. Health Ministry spokesman Abdel-Rahman Shaheen estimated there are between 300,000-350,000 pigs in Egypt.
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http://www.wkrg.com/medical/article/...ine_flu/25694/
Egyptian Christians riot after swine flu cull
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Egyptian leaders ordered the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of pigs today to help protect against swine flu, prompting angry protests from the poor Christian farmers who feed their animals with a country's food scraps. The decision was also criticised as a "real mistake" by
a senior UN food expert.
The Arab world's most populous nation has been been badly hit by the H5N1 bird flu virus in recent years and the move to cull up to 400,000 pigs - seen by Muslims as unclean animals - was designed to calm fears of an impending pandemic.
But it left Egypt's large Coptic Christian minority up in arms, especially the slum-dwelling "Zebaleen" rubbish collectors who rely on the hogs for their livelihood. Scores of them blocked the streets and stoned the vehicles of Health Ministry workers as they arrived to carry out the government's order at pig farms on the outskirts of Cario this afternoon.
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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle6193785.ece
Egypt's call to kill pigs amid flu scare ridiculed
The government likely felt confident slaughtering pigs would not spark any public backlash in predominantly Muslim Egypt, where the majority of the population does not eat pork. Pig raising and consumption is limited to the country's Christian minority, estimated at 10 percent of the population.
Still, the opposition Muslim Brotherhood was critical of the slaughter on the grounds it was not thought out.
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Coptic Christian leaders - including the Coptic pope - condoned the slaughter, and two Coptic lawmakers were among the most vocal supporters, likely to ensure that the Christian community is not blamed if a case does ever arise in Egypt.
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http://www.kansascity.com/440/story/1172587.html