A campaigning Oxfordshire porker trotted into Downing Street today to highlight what has been described as a crisis threatening the pig industry.

Winnie the Pig, a veteran of a similar campaign in 2001from Vitality Farm, in Shillingford Road, Wallingford, joined the Pigs are Worth It! rally outside Number 10.

Campaigners, who have the backing of Gordon Ramsay and other celebrity chefs, have said farmers lose about £26 for every pig sold for slaughter in the UK. They blame soaring wholesale grain costs, which have doubled in the past year.

A 10,000-signature petition organised by the National Pig Association will also be delivered to Number 10 calling for help for the industry.

Owner Marianne Hill said: "Pig farmers are angry."