Pigs trot to fame in the ‘Great Escape’

LONDON – Only the British would make national heroes out of two pigs who escaped from a slaughterhouse and made a dash for freedom.

Britons are often mocked for treating their pets better than their children. So the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) clearly felt it was onto a winner immortalising the exploits of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Pig.They were two Tamworth ginger-haired pigs who sparked an international media frenzy in 1998.Even Japanese and American networks flew in to cover the chase.’The Legend of the Tamworth Two’, which was screened by BBC Television on Monday, relives the frenetic week when the porcine pair were billed the world’s most famous fugitives.The plucky porkers escaped the abattoir knife in the western English town of Malmesbury by burrowing under a fence and swimming across an icy river to freedom.- Nampa-ReutersSo the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) clearly felt it was onto a winner immortalising the exploits of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Pig.They were two Tamworth ginger-haired pigs who sparked an international media frenzy in 1998.Even Japanese and American networks flew in to cover the chase.’The Legend of the Tamworth Two’, which was screened by BBC Television on Monday, relives the frenetic week when the porcine pair were billed the world’s most famous fugitives.The plucky porkers escaped the abattoir knife in the western English town of Malmesbury by burrowing under a fence and swimming across an icy river to freedom.- Nampa-Reuters