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EIGHT
LITTLE PIGS
A friend forwarded
some pigtures to me, of PBPs that were going to be shot and left for
coyotes if someone didn't come and get them. I was told there were
nine PBPs free ranging on 140 acres, NO PENS! Of the nine there were
three sows and six babies. There was one three weeks old and 5 four
months old. So the wheels started turning! I was told that Neil had
already shot the adult boar and left him for the coyotes, which in
fact turned out to be true!
After doing some
homework there was a realization that these poor pigs were seven hours
away from where I live. I knew that we had to do some brainstorming
to figure out how to rescue them and bring them home and then to figure
out housing. But no matter how much we tried to figure out a
plan we knew in our hearts that we were on our way. Believe me, I
am just a pet pig owner, not a rescue person, but I couldn't let these
pigs be killed.
Off we went to
eastern Washington to get the pigs. We left on Wednesday and spent
the night with our friend George and his wife. George lived next door
to the owner of the pigs Neil. We had found out what Neil's only purpose
for these pigs was and that was to eat them, but he found out
that they were not for eating as they didn't taste to good.
We were told there
were nine pigs, but by the time we got there the tiny three week old
baby girl had died/disappeared so now there were eight. We didn't
know what to expect as far as their condition. The temperature was
around 25 degrees and there was frost everywhere. Plan A didn't work
so we went to Plan B. While we were gearing up for Plan B Neil hands
me a bag of feed which I thought was some PBP feed. Needless to say
it wasn't PBP food it was a bunch of used tea bags, chicken bones
and almost rotten produce. I stood there horrified at the fact that
this was what those poor pigs were being fed.
We managed to
get them into a quancit hut. It was a metal building with sturdy wood
fencing across the front of it. We closed the fencing and they went
ballistic! We were unprepared for what happened next. Two of the babies
went airborne over the backs of the sows and escaped over the fence.
We did capture the remaining six including the sows. We then decided
to leave some of the creates with the pigs in them inside the building
thinking that they might attract the two babies that had escaped.
Well, it worked for one of the babies. We now had seven of the eight
pigs.
We tried several
times to catch the last baby, who we now called Loner. We would go
into the house hoping that Loner would calm down enough so we could
catch him, but there was no way he was coming near us.
We waited as long
as we could for Loner to go back into the building but still it was
unsuccessful. We now had to think of the other pigs who were still
in the crates and the long trip home.
It was very emotional
for me to think that poor Loner was left behind. I just knew that
I would never see him again and we had just taken all his family away.
It was already very cold up there that day and getting colder and
he had no one to keep him warm. I though he would be eaten by the
coyotes or some other predator. We left the crate there just in case
Loner would come back. It was agreed that Neil would not harm Loner
and if caught we would leave on a moments notice to get there to pick
him up.
As a post script,
the three sows (which were pregnant) went to a sanctuary and have
been spayed. There was one baby girl that has been placed in a wonderful
home with a family who are my friends. The boars have been neutered
and are now part of my family.
By
Sally Sullivan-Hall
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