Teacup Pigs: The Latest Celebrity Pet Craze

Oh, I am sure PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) will have a big fit because it seems like there is a new pet-craze in town.

Teacup Pigs, also called Micro Pigs, are the latest “It” pet and therefore the new status symbols as far as celebrity pets are concerned.

With this development, these pigs will be so in demand that they will result in the proliferation of Teacup piglet-mills, something that PETA has a right to be concerned about.

However, the celebrity Teacup pet-buying continues with Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley of Harry Potter), Paris Hilton and super couple David and Victoria Beckham as the latest proud owners of these cute pigs, so named because they are small enough to fit a teacup and because their original breeder, Chris Murray, discovered that his little pets shared his love for tea.

It took Murray 9 years and 24 generations of breeding before he succeeded in reducing the pigs to the miniature size that they are today.

Originally named “Pennywell miniatures”, after the farm in Devon, England where the first of these Teacup Pigs were born, they are now in the limelight after PETA sounded a cry of protest against Paris Hilton’s ownership of a fully grown Teacup Pig.

Follow us on Twitter to get free up-to-date news via tweets from the World Correspondents, or you can subscribe to us by entering your e-mail below. You can confirm your free subscription by clicking the confirmation link that will be sent to your e-mail address. Once you've confirmed, then you're good to go.

Enter your email address: