SD_WILSON

Reward for flying pig - dead or alive
By CHRIS DOUCETTE, SUN MEDIA
The Toronto Sun

Swine flew has a whole new meaning north of the GTA after a Barrie radio station's mascot -- a huge inflatable oinker named Pinky -- broke free from its tether and soared up into the sky during Canada Day celebrations.

Rock 95 FM is offering a $1,000 reward in hopes of recovering the helium-filled pig, which is as big as a minivan and believed to be heading for Ottawa.

"I love that pig!" Doug Bingley, GM of Rock 95 FM, said yesterday of his decision to offer a reward. "It's a very cool-looking thing."

Staff from the station's promotions department were unloading Pinky from a truck over the noon-hour Wednesday at an event on Barrie's waterfront when the blimp broke free and floated out over Lake Simcoe in a northeasterly direction.

"It's hard to get a pig to fly," Bingley joked. "But once it got going, it just went straight up and took off."

He said condo owners in the area were a little startled when they looked out their windows and saw a pig flying by.

Pinky, which is similar to the pig Roger Waters of Pink Floyd flies overhead at his concerts, was spotted yesterday on the other side of Lake Simcoe in Beaverton.

Bingley said he reported the runaway swine to Transport Canada, "just in case," but was told it shouldn't be a problem for aircraft.

The pig is designed with a built-in panel that pops if it soars too high causing it to plummet back to earth, he explained.

However, it's not known if that has happened yet.

SD

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