JIAXING CITY, China, March 14 (UPI) -- A farmer from Jiaxing City in eastern China allegedly has admitted to dumping dead pigs into the Huangpu River, local authorities said.
Nearly 6,000 dead pigs have been found floating in the river in Shanghai as of Tuesday, Xinhua reported.
An ear tag collected from one of the pigs led investigators to the farmer, who allegedly told police Wednesday that he dumped at least some of the pigs in the river. Police found 13 other ear tags and are investigating those as well.
Xinhua said a total of 70,000 pigs have died in Jiaxing City this year due to poor farm conditions and extreme weather at the beginning of the year. Most of the bodies have been disposed of safely and officials said no swine epidemic has broke out so far.
