You might call it revenge pork. A pig apparently caused the death of a slaughterhouse butcher in Hong Kong last week when the struggling animal knocked the man to the ground, causing him to gore himself with his own meat cleaver, CNN reported. Local police said the 61-year-old butcher worked at the Sheung Shui Slaughterhouse on the city's northern outskirts near the border of mainland China.
The city's Food and Environmental Hygiene Department offered its condolences to the man's family in a statement. Read on to find out more about what happened to the man, the pig, and internet commenters after reading the story.
Police told CNN the butcher was about the kill the pig, which he had already shocked with an electric stun gun, when the animal regained consciousness and knocked him over. A colleague found the man unconscious with a 15-inch meat cleaver in his hand and a wound on his left foot, police said.
The man was taken to hospital and was later certified dead. Police said the official cause of death has yet to be determined. It's unclear what happened to the pig.
The city's Labour Department told CNN it has launched an investigation into the accident. "The Labour Department is saddened by the death of the person and expresses its deepest sympathy to his family," the agency said in a statement.
"We will complete the investigation as soon as possible to identify the cause of the accident, ascertain the liability of the duty holders and recommend improvement measures. We will take actions pursuant to the law if there is any violation of the work safety legislation," a spokesperson said.
Commenters on Reddit reacted to the story with a mixture of amusement and analysis. "The pig didn't really 'kill' the butcher. The struggle caused the butcher to slip and fall and mortally wound himself with his own cleaver," said one commenter. "Seems like the wound was on the foot and it was really the fall that was fatal." "Found the pig's lawyer," another replied.
"The pig has been promoted to butcher," said another. "The Pig will be charged with involuntary manslaughter," one Redditor quipped. "Double standard, since humans don't get charged with hamslaughter," another replied.
This isn't the only time an animal turned the tables on its human harasser in recent months. In September, a hunter had to be airlifted out of a remote area of Colorado after he tried to shoot a moose with an arrow and missed, which caused the animal to charge and gore him. It happened in a remote area in the Poudre Canyon of Colorado. The hunter activated a GPS emergency response beacon, which enabled him to be airlifted to a nearby hospital. Authorities said it was the fourth time a moose had attacked a person in Colorado that year. Despite this, the state parks agency said it "will not be taking management action on the moose."
And in October, a man hunting birds was interrupted when he was charged by a 700-pound grizzly bear near Glacier National Park in Montana. The 51-year-old Washington state man was knocked down and trampled by the bear. He stopped the attack by wounding the bear with his gun. Ultimately, he spent the night in the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. State park officials said the bear had no history of menacing humans and had probably reacted out of surprise.
