四川大地震復興のシンボル、ブタの「猪堅強」死ぬ　１４歳

【上海ＡＦＰ＝時事】２００８年に中国・四川省で発生した大地震で、がれきの下敷きになりながら、３６日後に救出され復興の象徴となっていたブタの「猪堅強（強いブタの意）」が１６日夜、死んだ。１４歳。（写真は中国の四川大地震を生き延びたブタの「猪堅強」）
　２００８年５月１２日に発生したマグニチュード（Ｍ）７．９の地震では、約９万人が死亡・行方不明となった。
　１袋の木炭と雨水で生き延びた猪堅強の奇跡の物語は、生きる力をかき立てる象徴として称賛された。猪堅強は、がれきの下から助け出された時、体重がひどく減っていたため、ブタというよりヤギのようだったという。
　四川省の省都・成都近郊の博物館が、猪堅強を３００８元（約５万２０００円）で買い取り、観光の呼び物として死ぬまで飼育することになっていた。
　博物館は中国版ツイッターの微博（ウェイボー）で、猪堅強は１６日夜に老衰で死んだと明らかにした。
　共産党機関紙・人民日報系の環球時報によると、猪堅強は人間でいうと１００歳に当たるという。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/06/17-19:42）

A pig that became an unlikely national icon in China after surviving 36 days under rubble from a powerful 2008 earthquake has died at the age of 14, sparking an outpouring of emotion on Thursday.
Zhu Jianqiang, or Strong Pig, shot to fame after being discovered alive after the 7.9-magnitude earthquake in southwestern Sichuan province on May 12, 2008.
The earthquake left nearly 90,000 people dead or missing and the pig's miraculous story, subsisting on a bag of charcoal and rainwater, was hailed as an inspiring symbol of the will to survive.
Witnesses said the young Zhu Jianqiang had lost so much weight by the time it was pulled from the rubble that it looked more like a goat.
A local museum near the city of Chengdu had purchased the famous pig for 3,008 yuan ($450) and kept it as a tourist attraction while it lived out its days.
It succumbed to old age and exhaustion on Wednesday night, the museum said on China's Twitter-like Weibo platform.
In human terms, it was 100 years old, The Global Times said, citing its breeder.
The celebrity porker was named China's animal of the year in 2008 because it vividly illustrated the spirit of never giving up.
The Weibo hashtag Strong Pig died had drawn nearly 300 million views by mid-day Thursday and was rising fast.
Weibo users hailed it as the most famous pig in history.
It is indeed a strong animal, not just for surviving the earthquake, but also for the 13 years of life afterwards, said one popular Weibo post.