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Mine that Pig

Rescuers net a pig after it falls down a disused mine shaft.

Current affairs 1968 1 mins Silent

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Overview

A different type of swine fever has gripped these shores as a five-year-old sow walked out on her piglets. She in fact strayed from the farm in Ashton near Helston and fell into a partially flooded mineshaft; luckily the pig swam to a ledge and became wedged between rocks. RSPCA Inspector Gilbert Griffiths, veteran of many a strange rescue, is lowered down the shaft.

The vet is on hand to assist Griffiths in sedating the pig but she still manages to bite Griffiths in a tussle to administer the dose. Griffiths nets the sow and she is hauled to the surface in what becomes a four-hour rescue. After the ordeal, the sow, although wEEEak and disgruntled, re-entered the sty - with an oink oink here and an oink oink there - where her 10 piglets were waiting. Old mineshaft workings in Cornwall are common and a legacy of the copper and tin mine industries in the county.