05-22-2008 Taipei
The sole tenant of 151 Ti-Hua Street, Taipei pays no rent, does no work and won't mind being called a fat pig. She's a 150-kg (330 lb) sow.

The pig's owner, a middle-aged man who declined to be interviewed, put her up at the tiny, blue-painted hut about two years ago when she got too big to share a living space with humans, neighbours say.

Although shops in this busy commercial area sell pork, the sow is seen as a local celebrity, rather than a stinky nuisance, and lives off scraps from her human neighbors.

People often stop and gawk or take photos.

"Fabulous, tame and very big," marveled Deng Yun-cheng, 66, who drove past the sleeping pig and her home on his motor scooter on Thursday. "It's clean and doesn't stink."

"I wanted to touch it," admitted Hsieh I-fan, a nearby shopkeeper. "You hardly ever see these in the city."

Neighbours say the sow's owner regularly cleans the hut and the black, white and pink animal, who often saunters out on hot days to the refrigerator of a nearby roadside food stall.

"Everyone's used to it. It has been around for so long," said Penny Chang, 22, who serves bean curd desserts across the street from the sow. "Customers will go out there and take pictures. They think it's cute."

Tiny Taiwan is a nation of pork lovers, with over 12,600 pig farms.