Pig Beach

Anecdotal history

A single, factual account of how the pigs ended up on the cay does not appear to exist. Folklore and various theories claim a number of different scenarios including pirates.^[8]

Some say the pigs are said to have been dropped off on Big Major Cay by a group of sailors who wanted to come back and cook them. The sailors, though, never returned; the pigs survived on excess food dumped from passing ships.^{[citation needed]}

Another legend has it that the pigs were survivors of a shipwreck and managed to swim to shore, while other accounts claim that the pigs had escaped from a nearby islet.^[9] Yet others suggest that the pigs were part of a business scheme to attract tourists to the Bahamas^{[citation needed]} while another claims the pigs were stocked on the island in the 1990s by residents of nearby Staniel Cay to raise for food.^[5]

Modern day

The pigs are now fed by residents from neighboring islands and tourists^{[10][self-published source]} and the island is unofficially known as Pig Beach by both locals and tourists.^[11]

In 2017, a number of the resident pigs were found dead,^[12] which caused speculation regarding the cause of death including claims of tourists feeding pigs alcohol or the pigs ingesting sand.^[13][14][4]