Pigs really can fly
Posted By LANCE HOLDFORTH, SUN MEDIA
Posted 7 months ago
If Pink Floyd fans know anything, it's that pigs actually do fly.
While residents of Barrie were celebrating Canada Day, around 12:30 p. m. radio station Rock 95's 5-metre inflatable pig -- Pinky -- took to the skies.
The $7,000 helium-filled pig broke from its tether and was carried away by heavy gusts of wind in a north-easterly direction.
"It's sort of a WKRP moment with the thing missing," station manager Doug Bingley said.
The station has received reports of sightings from Beaverton and Parry Sound, but the whereabouts of the balloon is still unknown.
Bingley said the pig is equipped with panels that pop the inflatable when it reaches altitudes between 914 to 1,200 metres.
"Maybe I'll call the airforce to shoot it down," Bingley said.
The pig was manufactured in Ontario by the same company former Pink Floyd member Roger Waters uses for pigs in his stage shows.
In 1977, dur ing a photo shoot for the Pink Floyd album Animals, a similar incident happened when an inflatable pig broke free and flew over London for hours before being shot down. Since then, numerous publicity stunts mimicking the flying pig have happened, but Bingley says this is not the case.
"It's not a stunt, but it's not the first time this has happened. We had a blimp for Kool FM and that got away a few years ago."
The station is offering a $1,000 reward for the pig.
"We do want it back dead or alive," Bingley said.
"One person did try to say they found the pig but it turned out to be a stuffed animal with a Rock 95 sticker on it," he said.
The inflatable is insured and the station has already ordered a replacement, but Bingley still hopes Pinky will be returned safely.
"We do want it back dead or alive," Bingley said.
"One person did try to say they found the pig, but it turned out to be a stuffed animal with a Rock 95 sticker on it," he said.
Pinky is insured and the station has already ordered a replacement, but Bingley wants to keep this one.
"I loved that pig," he said. The Ministry of Transportation was contacted and Bingley was relieved to hear the pig would pose no threat to aircraft because of the built-in panels.
Lance Holdforth is the Examiner's intern from Humber College
