THE UK Government’s official Twitter page has baffled Britons by posting advice – on how to take your pet pig for a walk.
The porcine post on Wednesday asked: “Did you know you can find out the rules for walking your pet pig on GOV.UK?”
Anyone following the link will discover that there is indeed a section of the government website dedicated to the lengthy regulations on keeping a pig or micropig.
Pig owners planning to walk their pet, are advised: “You need to get a licence…to walk your pig outside your home or premises.”
And it warns that officials “may not approve your walking route if it poses a health risk, for example if it passes close to a livestock market, pig farm [or] fast food restaurant”.
Owners are warned: “You must have your licence with you whenever you’re walking your pig, and you’ll need to renew it every year.”
The original tweet prompted dozens of replies, which ranged in tone from whimsical to outraged.
Ronald, whose profile picture is of a pig asked: “Don’t be so damned patronising. I can walk by myself without the Nanny State, thank you.”
James Price said: “The Empress will be pleased, not sure those of us inheriting £1.8 trillion debt will be as chuffed about your priorities though.”
An account named Vote Remain Watch directed his reply to Theresa May, asking: “Can we assume the work on these guidance notes, has been carried out voluntarily and has not been a cost to the taxpayer?”
Daryl Taylor said: “And there’s me thinking that we had a problem with terrorism, or we was busy with international negotiations. Nope, let’s write about pigs.”
‘Secret Squirrel’ added: “No, but I’m not surprised by this utter waste of taxpayers money. Homeless? Hungry? Here’s how to walk a pig.”
Inevitably, there were David Cameron references.
David Saunders said: “Someone should let Cameron know”, and Mike added: “Who wrote these rules and would this be a bad time to bring up #PigGate? Oink, Oink”, along with two pig face emojis.
The Gov UK Twitter feed has seemingly been in a playful mood over the past few days.
Another link was captioned: “Did you know you can find out how to create a hedgehog haven on GOV.UK?”
And another asked: “Is it a cake or a biscuit? Did you know you can use GOV.UK to find this out?”
