A village in the Sultan Kudarat of the Philippines are traumatized and believe that a curse will befall their community after a local farmer’s goat gave birth to what they are calling a “half pig-half human” creature.
According to the farmer, 40-year-old Josephine Repique, the pregnant goat went into labour on 2 Nov at a small farm. The farmer decided to deliver the kids through a cesarean section but soon discovered that something was terribly wrong.
The community were left horrified when the farmer removed a small furless animal that resembled a cross between a human baby and a pig from the goat. The creature even had what looked like a belly button.
Describing that the creature “looked like a pig, with a mix of human,” Josephine said: “We were shocked. We can’t explain how it looks like that. All our neighbours flocked into our house to get a good look.”
It was later discovered that the creature was not one being but two babies conjoined together. Unfortunately, both the mother goat and her babies died.
The birth of the creature and the sudden death of the goat and her babies have sparked fears in the community that the creature could be a “mutant devil” that has brought bad luck into the village. Josephine said: “Nobody knows what it is, but it’s not a goat. It’s scary. We’re all wondering why it happened and if it is bad luck.”
There might be a simpler explanation, though. Dr Agapita Salces at the Institute of Animal Science of the University of the Philippines explained the foetus seemed to have suffered a genetic mutation while it was still in the womb:
“It is a possible case of genetic mutation. It is also possible that the mother contracted a disease called Rift Valley fever from mosquito bites and this caused the impaired development of the infant.”