When pigs float: police dump carcass into river to get idea how bodies travel

SASKATOON – RCMP officers have dumped a pig carcass into the South Saskatchewan River to try to get a better sense of how a body moves in the current.

The pig was sent packing in Saskatoon with a tracking device.

It’s hoped that the data will help the RCMP’s historical case unit better understand how fast and far a body travels before it comes to rest.

Cpl. Tyler Hadland says Mounties expect to recover the brightly coloured orange pig during the summer.

Police also sent a pig down the North Saskatchewan River in North Battleford last fall.

It only got about 20 kilometres downstream before it got snagged.

Hadland says Saskatoon’s 82-kilogram porker should make it further.

“It’s really conceivable that it will travel a further distance … flow rates this year are a lot higher … so that is going to be a contributing factor,” he said Wednesday when the pig was launched from the Saskatoon Racing and Canoe Club site.

A pig is a good animal to use for the experiment, Hadland added.

“It doesn’t have very much hair or fur or anything that may contribute or factor into where it gets hung up.”

(CJWW)