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Buzz Feed
23-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
9 Celebrities Who Died In Strange, Mysterious Ways
It's always been fascinating to me how, as a celebrity or public figure, you can live your whole life under the microscope of for your death to be shrouded in mystery, and — in some cases — still unsolved decades later. Or, like others, you become famous because of your death, only reaching the goal of celebrity when you're no longer able to bask in it. Recently, I came across a thread on Reddit where u/the_last_lemurian asked people to share celebrity deaths that were so mysterious, people spent literal hours thinking about them. Based on their suggestions, I spent hours going down rabbit holes myself, summarizing these cases of strange, mysterious, or unsolved celebrity deaths that I, too, cannot get out of my head now. Here are nine of the strangest, most fascinating, and most-suggested celebrity deaths they shared: George Reeves (1914–1959). Reeves, best known for playing the titular character in Adventures of Superman, died on June 16 from a gunshot wound to the head. Officially, it was ruled as a suicide, but in conjunction with a lack of evidence, suspicious circumstances, and contradictory witness reports, his friend Rory Calhoun reportedly said, "No one in Hollywood believed the suicide story." On the night of his death, Reeves and his fiancé, Leonore Lemmon, had been out drinking, and Reeves went to bed as Lemmon invited friends over. Reeves was said to have come downstairs to ask the group to quiet down, and as he left, Lemmon reportedly joked that he was "going upstairs to shoot himself." The group heard a noise coming from upstairs but didn't immediately check it. Here is where the inconsistencies begin. Despite the apparent suicide, no fingerprints — not even Reeves's — were found on the gun, and Reeves didn't have gunpowder on his hands. Additionally, Lemmon and her friends only reported hearing one bang, but there were three bullets found at the scene, as well as a casing whose placement wasn't consistent with a suicide. Pictured: Lenore Lemmon (left) Despite the ruling, three main theories came to be: that Reeves was depressed about a lack of roles post-Superman and killed himself, that it was a drunken accident and Lemmon killed him, and that it was a planned murder in relation to an affair he had reportedly had with actor Toni Mannix. "The fact that he played such a beloved character like Superman but was found dead under such mysterious circumstances makes you wonder if it really was a suicide or if it was something more sinister. Like, imagine if tomorrow they found Chris Evans dead by a gun that doesn't have his fingerprints on it, with no gunshot residue on his hands, and it's just ruled a suicide? That would be wild."—sun4restYou can read more about his death here. Natalie Wood (1938–1981). On Nov. 30, 1981, Wood's body was found off the coast of Santa Catalina Island, where she'd been vacationing with her husband, Robert Wagner, her Brainstorm costar Christopher Walken, and friend/captain, Dennis Davern, on a yacht. The West Side Story actor — who was said to be "famously terrified of dark water," was found floating about 200m away from a motorized dinghy in the early hours of the morning. Initially, reports assumed the death was accidental; however, the story got much more complicated over the years as stories and timelines changed with new information. Per Wagner's memoir, Pieces of My Heart, he claims he, Wood, and Walken returned to the boat that night at around 10 after wining and dining on land. Witnesses said the trio was visibly intoxicated. Back on the boat, Davern said Wagner smashed a bottle in front of Wood and Walken "out of the clear blue," asking, "What are you tryin' to do, f--- my wife?" The Rebel Without a Cause actor reportedly left and went to her room, with her husband following, where they began arguing. Davern claimed it sounded as though it could be physical, and said they continued out on the back of the boat. This information came years after Wood's death. Davern shared this with investigators in 2011, which reopened the case and brought Wagner back into question. In 2012, her cause of death was amended from accidental drowning to "drowning and other undetermined factors." Nonetheless, after years of additional investigation, Wagner was cleared, and the case was left open and unsolved. Pictured: Wagner (left) and Wood (right)Suggested by: Toxicity246"Christopher Walken KNOWS SOMETHING."—Longjumping-Ant-77"[The boat] was around 60 feet, and on a boat that size, you can hear everything that is going on. A huge fight would have been heard, as would have the sudden silence of the fight ending. Robert's actions seem very suspicious. But we will never know, unless Christopher talks, which he won't."—NoneThere's so much information and speculation around this case that it truly could be its own article and is by no means all covered in this brief summary. If you'd like to read more about it, you can start here and here. Brittany Murphy (1977–2009). On Dec. 20, 2009, the 32-year-old Uptown Girls star collapsed on her bathroom floor and just hours later, was pronounced dead at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in LA. Her coroner's report later showed pneumonia as her cause of death, and listed anemia and multiple drug intoxication as "contributing factors." Following her death, both her mother and her husband, Simon Monjack, made a rather strange appearance together on Larry King Live. Further, Murphy had lived with the two of them while she was alive, and they continued to live together in her home after her death. This, fueled by Monjack's criminal history and track record of abusive behavior toward his exes, created tons of conspiracy theories around what actually happened to the Clueless star. A majority of theories surrounding her death center around some kind of poisoning, be it accidentally from mold or intentionally by her mother or husband (often suggested to be linked to a desire for Murphy's wealth or an alleged affair between the two). Theories only grew wilder when, less than six months after Murphy's death, her husband died of the same causes. Suggested by: bluntbiz and Dougalface. You can read more about her death here. Michael Rockefeller (1938-????). At 23 years old, Rockefeller disappeared while traveling to Dutch New Guinea (now West Papua). The son of the then-New York City governor had been traveling for seven months already when his boat capsized, sending him and his travel companion René Wassing into the Betsj River. While two others they traveled with — who were native to the region and familiar with the hostility of the river — made it to shore to find aid, Rockefeller and Wassing stayed atop the overturned boat. Rockefeller was reportedly worried they would float into the open ocean with even less of a chance of survival, so he attached a make-shift flotation device to his belt and jumped in. The swim to shore was estimated to be somewhere between three and ten miles. Wassing stayed behind and was rescued the following morning by search parties. Two weeks' worth of search parties scoured the region, though he was never found, dead or alive. Pictured: Wassing This disappearance, of course, created a breeding ground for theories as to how specifically he met his demise. Some are simple and straightforward, like drowning. Others suggest Rockefeller abandoned society and joined the Asmat tribe that called the region home, claiming to have photographic evidence of a white man amongst them. Others, however, believe Rockefeller sought help from the Otsjanep (a subgroup of the Asmats) when he reached land and was ultimately killed and eaten by them. You can read more about his disappearance by: laufsteakmodel Elizabeth Short (1924–1947). Also posthumously known as "The Black Dahlia," Short was a 22-year-old aspiring actress when her body was found on a "barely developed" Los Angeles street, naked, bloodless, sliced in half, and positioned like a mannequin. Per BBC, "she had been mutilated, her intestines removed, and her mouth slashed from ear to ear." Her case, unfortunately, remains unsolved to this day. There are tons of theories involving Short's death, which range greatly due to the sheer lack of information. The FBI speculates that her killer might've worked in or studied medicine, given the precision of her dissection, and students at USC Medical School at the time were looked into. For similar reasons, they also could've been a butcher, though neither lane led them anywhere in the end. In what they hoped would be a breakthrough, investigators got an anonymous letter from the potential murderer with fingerprints on it, though they weren't a match to any in their database at the time. Suggested by: robj57You can read more about her murder here. Elliott Smith (1969–2003). On Oct. 21, 2003, Smith and his girlfriend, Jennifer Chiba, were fighting in their LA apartment when he threatened to kill himself. This wasn't something out of the blue for Smith, and so Chiba reportedly locked herself in the bathroom in the heat of their she heard a scream. She unlocked the door to find a kitchen knife lodged in his chest, stabbing him right in the heart. He died just 20 minutes after arriving at the hospital. While an apparent suicide note reading "I'm sorry, love, Elliott. God forgive me." was found on a sticky note, Smith's death was still considered suspicious for many reasons, and investigators struggled with whether to rule it a suicide or a murder. First and foremost, a stab to the heart is one of the rarest and most painful ways to commit suicide, though that didn't make it impossible for him to have done so. What was unusual, however, was that Smith had no "hesitation wounds," or initial, shallower cuts typically inflicted before the final wound, and had small, potential self-defense wounds. Further, Chiba had reportedly removed the knife from his body and, though she personally denied this, it was reported that she refused to speak to detectives initially. While some may blame his suicide on his drug addiction or depression, Smith was reportedly doing well in the time leading up to his death and had been clean. No substances aside from his prescribed medications for depression and ADHD were found in his system at the time of his death. That's not to say his lifelong depression — which, along with his addiction, were often topics of his music — couldn't have played a major role in his potential some friends and colleagues of Smith claimed that his relationship with Chiba was nowhere near as peaceful as others had made it out to be, reporting constant fighting, breaking up, and tense feelings between the two (and Chiba's band) as collaborators. Others, however, countless theories, as of 2003 the case remains open with the by Zukez, interprime, and obi-sean. You can read more about it here. Anton Yelchin (1989–2016). The Star Trek actor died in June of 2016 in a freak accident in which he was pinned between his fence and mailbox on his Los Angeles property by his 2015 Jeep Cherokee. The car had been recalled just months earlier for having confusing gear shifters that had, on more than one occasion, caused the vehicle to roll off. This, too, was believed to have been the cause of his death. Per the lawsuit, he "was crushed and lingered alive for some time, trapped and suffocating until his death." Suggested by: DaveDavidsen. You can read more about his death here. Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962). The 36-year-old Hollywood icon's death in August of 1962 is shrouded in mystery and conspiracy, even all these decades later. This, of course, includes the events leading up to her death. Per a 1962 Los Angeles Times article, the Gentlemen Prefer Blondes star's psychiatrist broke into her room at 3:30 in the morning and found her naked, facedown, and "clutching a telephone receiver" in bed. She had reportedly already been dead for somewhere between six to eight hours due to an "apparent overdose of sleeping pills," and investigators were uncertain whether it was accidental or a suicide. A second timeline of events was proposed in the documentary The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes, based on "hundreds of interviews," aimed to get to the bottom of inconsistencies in the original story. It suggested that — per the word of several paramedics and the wife of Monroe's PR manager — it was actually known that Monroe was unwell hours earlier (10:30 p.m. the night before), and that she was taken in the ambulance alive and died on the way to the hospital. Regardless, the reason for her death — and whether it was accidental, a suicide, or a staged homicide — remains a mystery. There are probably hundreds of conspiracy theories surrounding the nature of it all, from her romantic entanglements with JFK and Robert Kennedy to CIA involvement over fear of her harboring Communist connections. "She had been sleeping with some very elite people, who knew some very elite information."—prettyvoidofevilYou can read more about her death here, as well as the aforementioned documentary here. And finally, Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849). On the 27th of September, Poe left Richmond, Virginia, for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for an editing job. never made it there. Nor was he seen in New York, where he lived. He wasn't found at all, in fact, for almost a week. When the legendary author did turn up once again, he was in Baltimore, Maryland. It was Oct. 3, four days before his death. Poe was found lying in the gutter of Gunner's Hall tavern, delirious, disheveled, and dressed in someone else's clothing. His friends assumed him to be drunk, so he was sent to Washington College Hospital to recover. While there, he drifted in and out of consciousness, covered in sweat and talking to seemingly imaginary things nobody else could see. He was unable to adequately answer the physician's questions and was reported to have repeatedly asked for someone by the name of "Reynolds" on his final day in the hospital. To this day, no one knows who "Reynolds" is. There are loads of theories as to what exactly happened to the Tell-Tale Heart author, from suspicions of carbon monoxide poisoning to rabies. One of the most popular theories, though, is that Poe was "cooped." Cooping was a method 19th-century gangs would use to rig elections by kidnapping people, disguising them, forcing them to vote for their preferred candidate, then "rewarding" them with alcohol, as this occurred during Prohibition. Poe was found on Election Day, and the tavern had been a polling site. He ultimately passed away at the hospital on Oct. 7. While the theory definitely carries its weight, unfortunately, we will likely never know for certain what happened to Poe that by: Rigistroni and Blametheorangejuice. You can read more about Poe's death here. Do you love all things scary, dark, and creepy? Subscribe to the That Got Dark newsletter to get your weekly dopamine fix of the macabre delivered RIGHT to your inbox!
Irish Independent
26-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Independent
Pigs can't fly: US high-end livestock breeders lose millions in China tariff fallout
Instead, many went to a local Indiana slaughterhouse for less than $200 each after the Chinese buyer cancelled the order within a week of China implementing retaliatory tariffs against the US in April. China is one of the biggest importers of American breeding pigs and other livestock genetic material such as cattle semen. These lucrative niche export markets had been growing, but dried up since US President Donald Trump started a trade war with Beijing. US farmers and exporters said the dispute has already cost them millions of dollars and jeopardized prized trade relationships that took years to develop. Though Washington and Beijing agreed to pause tariffs last week, exporters said Trump's unpredictable trade policy has caused their companies long-term damage and could encourage China and other major buyers to turn to foreign rivals like Denmark. "We've got brand damage now. There's not a week that goes by without clients asking what's happening with the US," said Tony Clayton, owner of Clayton Agri-Marketing, a Missouri-based livestock exporting company. "I don't know how we can put this back together. This is long-term damage," he said. White House spokesperson Kush Desai said the administration was "working around the clock to secure billions of dollars in even more opportunities with our other trading partners." Some farmers raise pigs specifically for breeding, a niche business within the $37 billion US hog industry. Farmers pay top dollar for these specialty pigs, which have favorable genetics to produce lots of healthy piglets that can eventually be processed into tasty, high-quality pork. Lemmon, an Indiana veterinarian and farm owner, has been selling pigs worldwide for over 30 years. He said he spent more than a year working on the $2.4m sale of the pedigreed pigs to China. He noted they were carefully bred for good health, litter size and high fat content that leads to richly marbled, tender meat when cooked. "It's devastating when it happens," Lemmon said, referencing the sale he lost. ADVERTISEMENT He said he plans to stay in the breeding business, and is working to rekindle the deal with his Chinese buyer during the tariff pause. Roughly half of the world's pigs live on Chinese farms. The country has purchased large quantities of breeding pigs from the US since an outbreak of African swine fever, a virus with a near-total fatality rate, wiped out millions of the country's hogs in 2018. Shipping livestock is lucrative but time-consuming. Shippers must personally fly with the animals or hire an on-board attendant who can make the rounds to keep their pricey passengers well-hydrated and comfortable during a long flight. When not working, the attendants chat with the flight crew or sometimes lie in sleeping bags next to the animals in the chilly cargo bay, exporters and farmers said. China has also been the biggest importer of semen from US dairy cows, known for producing large amounts of protein-rich milk. But "Not one unit of semen is going to China right now," Jay Weiker, president of the National Association of Animal Breeders, said, noting China had been importing one-quarter of all US cattle semen, which they use to artificially inseminate their dairy cows. The Chinese milk industry began importing large amounts of cattle semen to improve the genetics of domestic dairy cows after a deadly scandal over contaminated milk in 2008, Weiker said. At least six children in China died and nearly 300,000 fell ill after a Chinese manufacturer added melamine, a dangerous chemical, to milk powder to make the protein levels appear higher. Brittany Scott, owner of SMART Reproduction Services, a sheep and goat genetics company, said several foreign customers had also pulled out of deals. This left many vials of semen sitting in her Arkansas facility, frozen in tanks of liquid nitrogen and waiting for buyers. "They are eager to do their jobs," Scott said of her male goats and sheep. "They understand the assignment and they do really well." However, the work of selling their product has proven harder after Trump announced sweeping tariffs in April, and China retaliated. The lost sales have been "a punch in the gut," Scott said.
Boston Globe
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Well, nobody's perfect! A tribute to Jack Lemmon
After Isaac watched a few other films, he asked me: 'Does Jack Lemmon play the same kind of character in all of his movies?' 'Well, yes and no,' I began. I was about to support my answer, but we were interrupted. I never finished my explanation, so this critic's notebook is my full response to Isaac. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Jack Lemmon pictured in 2000 with his award for outstanding lead actor in a miniseries or movie for "Tuesdays with Maury" at the 52nd annual Primetime Emmy Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. Kevin Winter/ImageDirect via Getty Images Advertisement It's perfect timing, as Jack Lemmon's centennial is this year. To celebrate, here are some movies that showcase his unmatched skill at both comedy and drama. While he definitely had a familiar onscreen persona, he was willing to step away from it when necessary. Let's start with Isaac's fave: 'The Apartment' (1960) 'The Apartment' won the best picture Oscar back in 1961 and, based on an impromptu Bluesky poll I conducted, it's a favorite among Lemmon fans. The role of C.C. Baxter cemented the fussy, nebbishy Lemmon persona that Isaac saw in the movies he watched. Baxter rents out his apartment to higher-ups for their adulterous trysts. In exchange, he works his way up the corporate ladder. Advertisement Unfortunately, Baxter falls for his office's elevator operator, Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine, in her greatest performance). She's been to his apartment more than once when he wasn't home; she's the mistress of Baxter's evil boss, Sheldrake (Fred MacMurray). 'When you're in love with a married man, you shouldn't wear mascara,' advises Kubelik in one of many memorable lines scripted by Wilder and his screenwriting partner, I.A.L. Diamond. Speaking of great lines, the one that ends this movie is the second greatest last line in cinema history. Stay tuned for the only one that bests it. (Available on Tubi, Kanopy) 'Days of Wine and Roses' (1962) Playing against type, Lemmon earned an Oscar nomination for this often harrowing drama — it's his version of 'The Lost Weekend.' Lemmon and fellow Oscar nominee Lee Remick play a couple whose brutal descent into alcoholism is depicted with minimal melodrama. Director Blake Edwards made the two best films of his career in 1962, this and the gorgeous widescreen black and white neo-noir, 'Experiment in Terror.' (Available on Tubi) Jack Lemmon (right) with James Cagney in "Mr. Roberts." Getty Images 'Mister Roberts' (1955) A staple on NYC's Channel 5 when I was a kid, this fun CinemaScope comedy was my introduction to Lemmon. Jimmy Cagney costars with William Powell and Jason Voorhees's killer Mom herself, Betsy Palmer. Leading the cast is Henry Fonda who, back in 1948, played the titular character on Broadway for over 1,000 performances. Fonda got a best actor Tony for his troubles. As Ensign Pulver, the movie's version of the play's comedy relief character, Jack Lemmon also got an award for his troubles: the best supporting actor Oscar. (Available on AppleTV) Advertisement 'The China Syndrome' (1979) Lemmon won best actor at Cannes for teaming up here with Michael Douglas, and Fonda's daughter Jane. The title refers to a nuclear meltdown. It became an unlikely hit when, 12 days after its release, Three Mile Island's nuclear accident happened. Full disclosure: My parents took me to the drive-in to see this — and I fell asleep. I put it on here so you can guilt me into watching it. (Available on Prime) Jack Lemmon with Tony Curtis in "Some Like It Hot." Getty Images 'Some Like It Hot' (1959) I revisited this hilarious classic last week as part of the Lemmon retrospective at NYC's Film Forum, and it played like gangbusters. Lemmon's son, Chris, and several of his family members were on hand to tell stories about their beloved relative. Director Billy Wilder and his co-writer, I.A.L. Diamond, made Lemmon a star by putting him in drag alongside a similarly clad Tony Curtis. After witnessing the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, this disguised duo go on the run from gangster George Raft (who hilariously mocks his trademark coin-flipping here). Marilyn Monroe sings, shimmies, and falls in love with Curtis in her second pairing with Wilder. And lest I forget, this film has the greatest last line in cinema history. (Available on Tubi, Kanopy) 'Save the Tiger' (1973) The sleaziest film on this list won Lemmon a best actor Oscar over Al Pacino ('Serpico'), Jack Nicholson ('The Last Detail'), and Marlon Brando ('Last Tango in Paris'). Lemmon plays Harry Stoner, a WWII vet suffering from PTSD and contemplating whether to torch his failing apparel factory for the insurance money. It's the actor's most nakedly desperate portrayal of a loser until his turn as Shelly 'The Machine' Levene in the equally sleazy ' ('Tiger' available on Kanopy, AppleTV; 'Ross' on Prime) Advertisement 'Missing' (1982) This horrifying true story mystery, about a man who goes missing during the 1973 coup d'état in Chile, was my introduction to the films of director Costa-Gavras ('Z,' 'Music Box'). It's my pick for Lemmon's best dramatic performance. Cannes thought so, too; they gave Lemmon his second Cannes best actor award and the film the Palme D'Or. Lemmon lost the best actor Oscar, though. Sissy Spacek is also excellent as his daughter-in-law. (Available on WatchTCM) Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau in "Grumpier Old Men." Liaison Agency via Getty Images 'The Odd Couple' (1968) Wilder paired Lemmon with Walter Matthau in 1966's 'The Fortune Cookie,' the first of 10 movies they did together. This is their most beloved (though lovers of 'Grumpier Old Men' may protest this statement). In one of the few tolerable (Available on Apple TV+) 'The Front Page' (1974) This Matthau-Lemmon-Wilder collaboration was a hit despite being a lousy take on the famous 1928 play by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur. It's the first movie adaptation to use the play's 'son of a bitch stole my watch,' which the censors of old Hollywood wouldn't allow. That old-timey censorship makes me mad, but not as mad as I am at this movie. You see, 'The Front Page' convinced me that a job at the newspaper would be full of booze and brawls, typewriters, cigarettes, and shouted demands to 'Stop the presses!' We don't have any of that stuff here! I was livid when I found this out. In fact, I'm still livid. (Unavailable for streaming as of now) Advertisement Odie Henderson is the Boston Globe's film critic.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Pigs can't fly: US high-end livestock breeders lose millions in China tariff fallout
By Heather Schlitz CHICAGO (Reuters) - Dr. Mike Lemmon's pigs, each valued between $2,500 and $5,000, were supposed to be on a plane bound for Hangzhou, China, from St. Louis in April, where'd they spend the flight snoring, play fighting and snacking on oats and husked corn before taking up residence at Chinese hog farms. Instead, many went to a local Indiana slaughterhouse for less than $200 each after the Chinese buyer canceled the order within a week of China implementing retaliatory tariffs against the U.S. in April. China is one of the biggest importers of American breeding pigs and other livestock genetic material such as cattle semen. These lucrative niche export markets had been growing, but dried up since U.S. President Donald Trump started a trade war with Beijing. U.S. farmers and exporters said the dispute has already cost them millions of dollars and jeopardized prized trade relationships that took years to develop. Though Washington and Beijing agreed to pause tariffs last week, exporters said Trump's unpredictable trade policy has caused their companies long-term damage and could encourage China and other major buyers to turn to foreign rivals like Denmark. "We've got brand damage now. There's not a week that goes by without clients asking what's happening with the U.S.," said Tony Clayton, owner of Clayton Agri-Marketing, a Missouri-based livestock exporting company. "I don't know how we can put this back together. This is long-term damage," he said. White House spokesperson Kush Desai said the administration was "working around the clock to secure billions of dollars in even more opportunities with our other trading partners." Some farmers raise pigs specifically for breeding, a niche business within the $37 billion U.S. hog industry. Farmers pay top dollar for these specialty pigs, which have favorable genetics to produce lots of healthy piglets that can eventually be processed into tasty, high-quality pork. Lemmon, an Indiana veterinarian and farm owner, has been selling pigs worldwide for over 30 years. He said he spent more than a year working on the $2.4 million sale of the pedigreed pigs to China. He noted they were carefully bred for good health, litter size and high fat content that leads to richly marbled, tender meat when cooked. "It's devastating when it happens," Lemmon said, referencing the sale he lost. He said he plans to stay in the breeding business, and is working to rekindle the deal with his Chinese buyer during the tariff pause. Roughly half of the world's pigs live on Chinese farms. The country has purchased large quantities of breeding pigs from the U.S. since an outbreak of African swine fever, a virus with a near-total fatality rate, wiped out millions of the country's hogs in 2018. Shipping livestock is lucrative but time-consuming. Shippers must personally fly with the animals or hire an on-board attendant who can make the rounds to keep their pricey passengers well-hydrated and comfortable during a long flight. When not working, the attendants chat with the flight crew or sometimes lie in sleeping bags next to the animals in the chilly cargo bay, exporters and farmers said. China has also been the biggest importer of semen from U.S. dairy cows, known for producing large amounts of protein-rich milk. But 'Not one unit of semen is going to China right now,' Jay Weiker, president of the National Association of Animal Breeders, said, noting China had been importing one-quarter of all U.S. cattle semen, which they use to artificially inseminate their dairy cows. The Chinese milk industry began importing large amounts of cattle semen to improve the genetics of domestic dairy cows after a deadly scandal over contaminated milk in 2008, Weiker said. At least six children in China died and nearly 300,000 fell ill after a Chinese manufacturer added melamine, a dangerous chemical, to milk powder to make the protein levels appear higher. Brittany Scott, owner of SMART Reproduction Services, a sheep and goat genetics company, said several foreign customers had also pulled out of deals. This left many vials of semen sitting in her Arkansas facility, frozen in tanks of liquid nitrogen and waiting for buyers. 'They are eager to do their jobs,' Scott said of her male goats and sheep. 'They understand the assignment and they do really well.' However, the work of selling their product has proven harder after Trump announced sweeping tariffs in April, and China retaliated. The lost sales have been "a punch in the gut,' Scott said.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Pigs can't fly: US high-end livestock breeders lose millions in China tariff fallout
By Heather Schlitz CHICAGO (Reuters) - Dr. Mike Lemmon's pigs, each valued between $2,500 and $5,000, were supposed to be on a plane bound for Hangzhou, China, from St. Louis in April, where'd they spend the flight snoring, play fighting and snacking on oats and husked corn before taking up residence at Chinese hog farms. Instead, many went to a local Indiana slaughterhouse for less than $200 each after the Chinese buyer canceled the order within a week of China implementing retaliatory tariffs against the U.S. in April. China is one of the biggest importers of American breeding pigs and other livestock genetic material such as cattle semen. These lucrative niche export markets had been growing, but dried up since U.S. President Donald Trump started a trade war with Beijing. U.S. farmers and exporters said the dispute has already cost them millions of dollars and jeopardized prized trade relationships that took years to develop. Though Washington and Beijing agreed to pause tariffs last week, exporters said Trump's unpredictable trade policy has caused their companies long-term damage and could encourage China and other major buyers to turn to foreign rivals like Denmark. "We've got brand damage now. There's not a week that goes by without clients asking what's happening with the U.S.," said Tony Clayton, owner of Clayton Agri-Marketing, a Missouri-based livestock exporting company. "I don't know how we can put this back together. This is long-term damage," he said. White House spokesperson Kush Desai said the administration was "working around the clock to secure billions of dollars in even more opportunities with our other trading partners." Some farmers raise pigs specifically for breeding, a niche business within the $37 billion U.S. hog industry. Farmers pay top dollar for these specialty pigs, which have favorable genetics to produce lots of healthy piglets that can eventually be processed into tasty, high-quality pork. Lemmon, an Indiana veterinarian and farm owner, has been selling pigs worldwide for over 30 years. He said he spent more than a year working on the $2.4 million sale of the pedigreed pigs to China. He noted they were carefully bred for good health, litter size and high fat content that leads to richly marbled, tender meat when cooked. "It's devastating when it happens," Lemmon said, referencing the sale he lost. He said he plans to stay in the breeding business, and is working to rekindle the deal with his Chinese buyer during the tariff pause. Roughly half of the world's pigs live on Chinese farms. The country has purchased large quantities of breeding pigs from the U.S. since an outbreak of African swine fever, a virus with a near-total fatality rate, wiped out millions of the country's hogs in 2018. Shipping livestock is lucrative but time-consuming. Shippers must personally fly with the animals or hire an on-board attendant who can make the rounds to keep their pricey passengers well-hydrated and comfortable during a long flight. When not working, the attendants chat with the flight crew or sometimes lie in sleeping bags next to the animals in the chilly cargo bay, exporters and farmers said. China has also been the biggest importer of semen from U.S. dairy cows, known for producing large amounts of protein-rich milk. But 'Not one unit of semen is going to China right now,' Jay Weiker, president of the National Association of Animal Breeders, said, noting China had been importing one-quarter of all U.S. cattle semen, which they use to artificially inseminate their dairy cows. The Chinese milk industry began importing large amounts of cattle semen to improve the genetics of domestic dairy cows after a deadly scandal over contaminated milk in 2008, Weiker said. At least six children in China died and nearly 300,000 fell ill after a Chinese manufacturer added melamine, a dangerous chemical, to milk powder to make the protein levels appear higher. Brittany Scott, owner of SMART Reproduction Services, a sheep and goat genetics company, said several foreign customers had also pulled out of deals. This left many vials of semen sitting in her Arkansas facility, frozen in tanks of liquid nitrogen and waiting for buyers. 'They are eager to do their jobs,' Scott said of her male goats and sheep. 'They understand the assignment and they do really well.' However, the work of selling their product has proven harder after Trump announced sweeping tariffs in April, and China retaliated. The lost sales have been "a punch in the gut,' Scott said. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
