The number of pigs fished out from Shanghai's largest river has increased to almost 6000.
As of yesterday, 5,916 pigs and piglets have been removed from the Songjiang section of the Huangpu River, a major source of drinking water for the city's 23 million residents, Bloomberg reports.
"Is the water still drinkable after dead pigs were found floating in it?" Shanghai resident Liu Wanqing was quoted as saying by the China Daily newspaper.
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"The government has a responsibility to conduct a thorough investigation and provide safe water to residents."
Shanghai said it was testing water samples from the river on an hourly basis and so far all indicators were "normal".
The reason for the sudden dumping of the pigs is unknown, however Xinhua news agency reports that a pig virus, porcine circovirus (PCV), has been found in tests on one pig found in the river. PCV can spread among pigs but it cannot be transferred to humans.
The pigs are understood to have floated downstream from neighbouring Zhejiang province where police have been cracking down on the illicit trade of pork products.
The incident, dubbed by Chinese microbloggers as 'hogwash', first came to the public's attention last weekend when 900 pigs were fished from the river.
