A visibly distraught farmer in China wiped tears from his eyes on Monday as rising water levels in his barn endangered the lives of thousands of pigs.
Some 3,000 to 6,000 helpless hogs in Anhui Province seemed doomed to be stuck in their pens as water pooled up to their snouts, according to local media reports. Epidemic prevention measures and sanitation rules prohibited farmer Li Zuming from releasing them into the wild.
Torrential rain and severe flooding across southern China have already claimed the lives of at least 93 people, caused mass evacuations and destroyed thousands of homes and buildings.
Photographs of the farmer bidding a heartbreaking goodbye to his swine quickly went viral after being shared by local media and appearing on Chinese microblogging site Weibo.
A team of 50 to 60 people was deployed to move the pigs to dry land once news of the barn animals' plight reached the municipal government of Lu'an, according to Chinese news site The Paper. Workers from agricultural company Xishang Group were involved in the massive rescue mission, China Daily reports.
The rescued pigs will be sold, according to CCTV News.
Major flooding in the southern part of the country drowned 160,000 pigs last summer, notes the South China Morning Post.