A butcher has died after a pig at a slaughterhouse retaliated and caused him to sustain a fatal wound from a meat cleaver.
As reported by CNN, a 61-year-old butcher who worked in the Sheung Shui Slaughterhouse in Hong Kong was slammed to the ground by a pig and was wounded by a 15-inch meat cleaver.
The police revealed that the butcher was in the midst of killing the animal - as he had already been hit with an electric stun gun - so when it regained consciousness, it knocked him over.
The outlet shared that the man's coworker found him passed out on the ground with the cleaver in his hand and a wound on his left foot. He was rushed to the hospital but was later pronounced dead. The exact cause of death has yet to be determined.
According to the publication, the city’s Labour Department announced that it has launched an investigation and shared a statement that read: "The Labour Department is saddened by the death of the person and expresses its deepest sympathy to his family."
"We will complete the investigation as soon as possible to identify the cause of the accident, ascertain the liability of the duty holders and recommend improvement measures," they continued.
"We will take actions pursuant to the law if there is any violation of the work safety legislation," a department spokesman concluded.
The city’s Food and Environmental Hygiene Department also manages slaughterhouses and said that they were "very concerned about the work accident," as reported by News.com.au.
"The department expressed its deepest condolences to the deceased’s family and has requested the contractor to provide all necessary assistance to his family," the department said.
They noted that despite the deadly incident, "the slaughtering service remains normal and the supply of fresh meat is not affected".
It hasn't been disclosed whether the pig managed to escape the slaughter, per The Mirror.
The outlet wrote that pigs are rarely dangerous animals and are regarded as intelligent. Their high skill comes from their ability for social interaction, emotional awareness, capacity to feel discomfort, and hygiene routines.
The incident comes after it was disclosed that no measures have been taken against employees in UK abattoirs where animals that were planned to be killed were suffering from abuse before their deaths, per Daily Record.
It was claimed that only one in 300 complaints about animal welfare in UK farms led to prosecutions over the past four years.
