Tourists blamed for the death of the famous swimming pigs of The Bahamas

Tourists have been blamed for the deaths of a number of pigs in The Bahamas.

Seven of the swimming pigs are reported dead, wiping out one third of their colony.

The animals are the famous residents of “Pig Beach” on Big Major Cay, an uninhabited island 80 nautical miles from Nassau.

They have featured in the TV show The Bachelor and popped up in the social media pages of numerous celebrities who have travelled to visit them.

MORE: Children should be ‘taught about porn and sexting’, say most Britons
MORE: This dog is ecstatic at her new set of dentures she found in her back garden

But now seven of the pigs have been found dead in mysterious circumstances – and tourists are getting the blame.

Wayde Nixon, who says he started the pig colony 30 years ago, said visitors may have caused their deaths.

“The pigs were given the wrong food,” he told the Nassau Guardian.

“We have people coming there giving the pigs beer, rum, riding on top of them, all kinds of stuff.”

The dead pigs were buried at sea, leaving about 15 remaining in the colony.

Mr Nixon said the island should now be closed off to tourists to keep them away from the pigs that remain.

Actors such as Amy Schumer and Bella Thorne have visited the pigs in the past, as well as Donald Trump Jr, who took his family to the island during a holiday last year.

Officials in The Bahamas are investigating the circumstances behind the pigs’ deaths.

“It could just be a horrible accident where they ate something poisonous,” Bahamas Humane Society president Kim Aranha told Tribune 242.

“It could be malicious, but I don’t really see why someone would go out of their way to hurt those lovely animals.

“I know there are a lot of silly sailors that go and feed them alcohol to try and get them drunk, but that’s not to mistake them with the tour operators based out of Nassau who have treated them with excellent care.

“It’s really a mystery as to what killed these beautiful animals.”