Mark Saunders from the farm said the four-day-old black pig was likely to die unless it was returned.

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Tony Blair once told a Labour conference a story about the man employed by Prince Philip of Macedonia, the father of Alexander the Great, to carry a black stick with a pig's bladder on the end and wake him up at night to remind him he was only mortal.

BBC: The John Prescott story

Opened in 1986, El Celler is known for dishes that blend innovative cooking techniques with traditional ingredients, such as lobster parmentier with black trumpets and Iberian suckling pig with pepper sauce and garlic and quince terrine.

WSJ: Spain's El Celler de Can Roca world's No. 1 eatery

So we join the rich in beautiful dining rooms, like The Peninsula's Mei Jiang (peninsula.com) where we eat exquisite dim sum - rolled noodles with black beans and chilli, snow pea pastries, roast pork puffs so buttery they're like pig shortcakes - and are treated like pashas.

BBC: Postcard from Bangkok