LONDON, Jan 16: All of England appears to be in thrall to a pair of pigs, or rather boars of the ginger-haired Tamworth variety. The two animals have hogged news space since they escaped from an abattoir in the western English town of Malmesbury a week ago.In a country where fondness for animals sometimes appears to exceed that for fellow human beings, the Tamworth duo has become this year's first zoological cause celebre, with vegetarians, animal lovers and the press offering rewards for their return and safe havens for life.The porcine pair was delivered to Newman's slaughterhouse by their owner, road sweeper and part-time boar breeder, Arnoldo Dijulio. The boars, now christened Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Pig, sensing their last chance for freedom, made a sudden break for it by burrowing beneath the fence and sprinting across a field that led to the river Avon. They escaped the pursuing slaughtermen by swimming across the icy river and vanishing into a wooded thicket and from there into the gardens of local residents.All sorts of strategies were tried to recapture the two. One paper described it as ``scenes reminiscent of the O J Simpson car chase, the escapees (were) tracked by the police and media, on foot, by car and by helicopter.''Dave Lang, a local pig-breeder, turned up with his Tamworth sow called Samantha. With an officer of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to help, Samantha was paraded up and down in the hope that her chops would prove irresistible. They did not.As the search continued, Dijulio insisted that once recaptured the two would still end up on Newman's slicing machine.The Vegetarian Society, speaking for the escaping animals, pleaded for mercy. They said, ``The Society is hoping that 1998 will be the year of mass revolt of animals destined for slaughter. Animals really aren't that keen on the idea of ending up as dinner.''Even Jeremy Newman, whose sharpened knives the two escaped, admitted grudging admiration for the duo. Meanwhile, the police kept the press updated with developments on an information hotline. The Tamworth two, once united, can look forward to a life of comfortable captivity. Britain under Labour may be hard for those on social security, but it's still great for pigs.
