Pigs get the chop in wild boar festivities

THERE WERE dark mutterings about health and safety regulations, not to mention animal rights activism, in the seaside village of Enniscrone, Co Sligo, at the weekend when the annual Black Pig Festival took place with not a porky in sight, not even one of the flying variety.

There were cup cakes and crab fishing, a duck race and kite-surfing classes, music and a giant open air market but pigs were conspicuous by their absence, an omission which Fianna Fáil councillor Joe Queenan, chairman of the festival committee, reckons may have to be rectified next year.

Last year, pigs were the centrepiece of the festivities. They were doused with washing-up liquid and smeared with petroleum jelly for the popular pig-catching competition. It provided endless entertainment for many but probably, not surprisingly, was a major turnoff for others who felt the event was cruel.

“We weren’t exactly stopped from having pigs this year but we were made conscious of the animal rights issue,” explained Cllr Queenan, who admitted to having been a participant in the pig-catching event himself. “They are very greasy – hard caught,” he said. So many people have expressed disappointment about the absence of pigs this year that the councillor thinks “we may have to revisit this issue for next year’s festival”.

There is a giant sculpture of a black pig outside the village which reportedly has been erected close to the spot where a mythical wild boar was slain by the brave warriors of the Enniscrone area hundreds of years ago.

Centuries later the story is providing a good excuse for a festival which brought thousands of people into the village. “There isn’t a bed left in the area,” said committee member Ashling Ruane, who said the hotels and caravan parks were all full.

Last night there were many daredevil attempts to get into the Guinness Book of Records. Displaying the same type of valour shown by their ancestors in the face of the black pig, locals queued up to see who could eat the most dry cream crackers in one minute or who could smash the most eggs with their head in 60 seconds.

“Eating eight Jaffa cakes in a minute is actually not as easy as it sounds,” organiser David Ray assured those brave enough to consider the challenge.

The festival organisers have until next year to decide whether to revive the pig race and the pig-catching competition. In the meantime, anyone from the area who enjoys getting close up to livestock might just enjoy the Cow Dung Festival which takes place in the neighbouring parish of Castleconnor on August 20th and 21st. Prizes will be awarded to those who who come closest to guessing where a well-fed cow’s pat is going to fall. And it’s all in aid of the local GAA.