Little Mama - Part One

Okay...here we go...Mama's story. I'll probably get upset all over again but thank goodness this story has a happy ending.

One morning a week before Christmas (1997) I received a call from a women in tears. She had two potbellied pigs she could not keep. She had bought them from an ad she had seen in the paper. Apparently when she went to see the pigs the conditions were so terrible she felt compelled to buy them. They were living in freezing mud and were being chased and bitten by dogs. (Both pigs still bear the scars from bites on their back legs.)

She had them for about 4-5 days when she realized she was not a "pig person". (She thought she was buying a couple of lawn ornaments!) She got Janet Fine's number from the SPCA and Janet in turn referred her to us. We told her to bring them on over and so she did.

She said she had named the boar "Arnold" and the little sow "Mama". Mama had supposedly already had a litter of babies which froze to death outside in the rain and mud. (Very traumatic for a pig to lose her babies.) We made a pen outside our bedroom window so we could monitor them. We had to separate them because Arnold was still a boar, and Mama was not spayed. They were in pens side by side and seemed content.

We took Arnold down to Dr. Hurst to be neutered. We suspected that Mama might be pregnant because she did not seem to cycle. When Arnold came home from the vet we introduced him into a larger herd of pigs and kept Mama in her pen under the bedroom window.

Mama was very shy and did not like to be touched. She was afraid of hands which led us to believe that she had been hit. I began to spend more time with her,gently petting her and letting her know she could trust me. I prepared special treats for her (baked potatoes with lots of butter) and she started coming around. I was feeling really good about her progress and was very attached to her.

On the morning of February 27 1998, I awoke to the awful sound of a pig screaming. I jumped out of bed (I was 6 months pregnant) and woke up my husband, Lance. We had 12 pigs sleeping in the house and they were all up and in a panic. The dogs were growling but wouldn't go out the door.

We ran outside and at first we couldn't tell where the screams were coming from. It was 6am but still dark and hard to see. All our other pigs outside were up and barking in panic and looking in the direction of Mama's pen. I yelled to my husband that it was Mama.

I assumed she had gotten stuck in her fencing or in her house. Lance ran to her pen armed with a pair of scissors and a flashlight. He thought he was just going to cut the ties on her panels to free her. I will never forget his voice as he arrived at Mama's pen and screamed out, "OH MY GOD,IT"S A BEAR"... He was screaming at the bear and I joined in. The bear had climbed over the hog panels into the pen and was attacking Mama. As Lance watched and cried out in horror, the bear lifted Mama in it's mouth by the scruff of her neck and climbed out of the pen.

It ran down the hills towards the manzanita bushes with Mama in it's mouth. My husband chased the bear but when it turned around and faced him with Mama still screaming in it's mouth, he realized he had better return to the house and get a gun.

I followed him, agonizing over Mama's screams which could still be heard. He grabbed the gun, ran back outside and fired shots into the air. At this point the screams stopped. I had stayed in the house with our 2 year old daughter who was hysterical because she had heard the whole thing. When Lance walked back into the house I could tell by the look on his face that he was not able to save Mama. I said "Did he take her?" He just answered a quiet "yes".

I remember being on my knees, sobbing and holding my daughter who kept saying the same thing over and over..."don't make that sound...baby screaming".

Lance got dressed and armed with a rifle went out to search the area. When the sun came up he checked Mama's pen where he found a small amount of blood. We spent the morning in grief and shock. We phoned our friends and neighbors to tell what had happened. It was probably the worst morning of my life. Every minute was filled with thoughts of Mama and regret that we had failed her. We talked about it over and over, replaying it, wondering what we could have done to save her.

We live in a rural area with a lot of wildlife. We have had a little trouble with coyotes, and we know there are mountain lions in the area. The last thing in the world we expected to encounter however was a bear. We spoke to the Game warden who said the attack was "extremely unusual". This did not console us. I couldn't get Mama's screams out of my mind and I kept thinking of her unborn babies.

When Lance had gone to work and our daughter was napping, I took the dogs and searched the bushes myself. Instinctively I called out to Mama knowing there wouldn't be a reply, but I couldn't help myself. Of course there was no sign of her. The day wore on and I did all the usual chores. After the evening feeding, I began to cautiously let the house pigs out to potty. I let the last pig out at about 5:30pm. I stood out on the deck, gazing towards the parcel next door. It is an eleven acre parcel that had been vacant for about a year. Our pigs like to go there and graze and take advantage of the space.

As I stood there, I noticed a small black pig-like animal wandering around down there. I thought to myself that I must really be losing it to have forgotten about one of my pigs. Who had I let out and not called back in? I had been especially careful due to the attack so how could this have happened?

I checked in the house and all pigs were accounted for. The last pig I had let out was still wandering around on the deck so I knew it wasn't her. I knew I had to check it out so I filled a coffee can with pig chow and packed my daughter into the stroller. We headed down the driveway with 4 dogs and 1 pig in tow. About halfway down the driveway I spotted the small animal again and my heart started to pound. It was definitely a pig.

Little Mama - Part 2

By Marie Lloyd