Pink Floyd's Missing Giant Pig Has Landed

May 3rd, 2008
Reuters 2008
By: Syantani Chatterjee, Reuters

LOS ANGELES - A giant inflatable pig that went missing from a Southern California music festival at the weekend has been found in tatters in a desert town.

The pig, which has been a signature Pink Floyd stage prop since its appearance on the 1977 cover of 'Animals' and the song 'Pigs on Wings,' broke away from its tethers on Sunday night at Coachella Valley Arts and Music Festival.

The festival organizers offered a $10,000 reward for the two-story inflatable pig belonging to ex-Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters.

Two couples said on Wednesday they had found the shredded plastic remains of the pig outside their homes.

The pig, bearing political slogans and the word 'Obama' next to a ticked ballot box for U.S. Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama, was used by Waters during his set at the festival in the desert east of Los Angeles.

Steve Stoltz found a big pile of shredded plastic in his La Quinta, California, driveway early on Monday morning when he went to get his newspaper.

'We didn't even know what it was then, but that's all I hear about now,' his wife Susan Stoltz told Reuters.

Her neighbor, Judy Rimmer, found an even bigger pile in her driveway. Since then the neighbors have shared several pork jokes, she said.

'My sons who are in their 20s will think I'm pretty cool,' said Susan Stoltz.

At first the couples thought they were victims of a practical joke. But after reading mass media coverage of the missing pig they contacted festival organizers who authenticated the remains.

'They were really anxious to have the pig's remains, but we kept souvenirs,' Susan Stoltz said.

Stoltz said the two couples will split the $10,000 reward offered by the festival organizers and will each get four festival tickets for life.