Pig Rescue & Re-homing Guide
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Where to Start What it's like for a pet pig to go to a new home? What it costs a sanctuary to take in another pig |
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Sanctuaries are all full and brimming over with unwanted pigs. In today's economic climate many have failed. Others have closed for lack of public interest. The few left are not able to continually take on more little ones in need. pigs live long lives and sanctuaries have filled up in the last 10 years. Unlike dog and cat rescues, our sanctuary, like many other sanctuaries does not adopt and we are a "no kill" organization. We do not kill the old and arthritic or those with expensive medical needs to make room for younger healthy pigs. Your pig is very special to you and we want to help him secure a good life for the rest of his days, but we cannot keep adding to the numbers or we too will collapse. So we ask that you think carefully about what you need in the way of help and work hard with us to find him security and safety |
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What sanctuaries can and can't do Sanctuaries provide permanent homes. As a rule this takes up their entire day and all the budget. Most cannot drive several hours and set up a field trap or take your pig to a vet for spaying, then drive hours again to fetch the pig back to the sanctuary and watch over the healing process, then return her to you or place her in a foster home. There simply isn't time enough in a day. Some sanctuaries have programs and volunteers to help with rescues, some don’t. But it is not the normal work of sanctuaries. Sanctuaries provide lifetime care after they have been rescued, vetted and transported. Our Helping Hoof program may be able to help your pig in other ways when sanctuary space is not available.
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What it's like for a pet pig to go to a new home Pigs are very territorial animals. What you envision after viewing a website like ours of pigs in a field, living in harmony in a group, can take many long months to achieve with a new pig. Many people think a pig will adjust to a new situation readily and happily. Few do. Unlike dogs, who will accept love from any one who is willing to offer it, pigs have bonds with their human companions that are deep and all important to them. A new person to them is like a new person to you.. a stranger. And a sanctuary may seem like a haven of delights to you, and we are very proud of our sanctuaries, they serve a real need, but when a house pig is introduced to it, with all the other pigs who want nothing more than to bully him, he is not going to welcome this change. Imagine having been raised in a loving home for most of your life, your mom feeds you and talks to you and rubs your belly and covers you up with a blanket at night. She is your life.. You have your own bed with that special quilt and the cat who cuddles with you. Then one day you are dumped at a strange place full of pigs who want to beat you up and have to sleep in a barn with not a word from your mom ever again. Everything that had been your life is gone. Everything. Your home, your bed, you family. You are an outcast, at the bottom of the pecking order; life is not good For the pig to be moved into a sanctuary, no matter how wonderful it is or how well run, is a trauma. The older the pig the greater the difficulty he will suffer. Some older pigs have been known to die from the heartbreak of being cut off from everyone and everything they knew. The bonds they make with humans, because they were deprived as piglets of making the same bonds with others of their kind, are lifetime bonds. Its part of their emotional makeup, just as it is with humans. We humans created these bonds when we took baby pigs and made them part of our households, and now that they are no longer wanted, responsible people need to take every possible avenue to reduce this suffering we are causing them. Finding a smaller. less demanding home may be in his best interests, though the emotional trauma will only be softened, not eliminated. A prospective private home should be aware that a pig thrust into their lives from a loving home of many years, will often be depressed or angry and may suddenly begin biting or destroying the place.. "acting out" his emotional pain. Yes, most will adjust. It just takes time and patience.
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What it costs a sanctuary to take in another pig The person who you will reach, will very likely be tired and financially on the edge of a cliff, and not particularly sympathetic to your story of divorce or moving. Most sanctuary owners work 12 or more hours a day tending to the pigs and raising the funds to feed them and care for them. Or trying to rush between a day job and tending them after the sun goes down. So we aren't being hostile, we are just tired and unable to solve the problem of yet another needy pig. And if by some chance we could tend yet another hapless pig for the next 15 or more years, there is the expense. Are you planning to pay for his upkeep? If you were wanting a sanctuary to "take" your pig, how will they support him? It costs us $300 a year to take care of a potbellied pig in good health. I currently care for over 300 and pay support on dozens more in private sanctuaries. The years after 12 are often very expensive ones, as arthritis and dental care begins, and whatever disease ultimately claims them at the end of their life will usually require a good deal of vet expense. And a backhoe costs us $200 to dig a grave. Where does funding come from? There is no magic to raising money. This morning, as every morning, I started at 4 Am to get in 4 hours of admin work before the sanctuary day begins. Every day, 365 days a year we fit together all the little pieces of the funding puzzle, every newsletter, this web site, every letter of thanks, every grant proposal... Often people think "someone" funds us. Some government agency or the state or someone else. There are no such funding programs for pig sanctuaries. None. We do endless grant proposals, some taking 30 to 40 hours to prepare, submitting them to foundations who have 1000 proposals for every grant they can give and I can tell you, the chances of a foundation funding a pig sanctuary fall somewhere between rarely and never. Mostly we sell everything we own, take bigger and bigger mortgages and go into more and more debt every year. We support our hundreds of unwanted pig-children by the kindness of strangers who send in $5 or $25 as a gift of charity, by providing Internet services, and putting on fundraisers like yard sales and bake sales. It takes a lot of cookies to pay our $90,000 of expenses here every year. When pigs are coming from private homes we hope they can pay their own expenses. It can help to pave the way to finding them a safe foster or permanent placement. These wonderful private homes and fosters do the “blood, sweat & tears” hard work and we fund the expenses they incur. So expenses are always a concern. We have never turned down a pig because of his lack of a checkbook, but we are rarely able to take one now because of that policy. Consider ways to raise $25 in your budget every month, it's not so difficult.. a few less trips to fast food joints, a coke a day for a couple of weeks, turning off the dryer in the summer or the cable TV options. If giving up some TV is all it takes to save the life of your little pig person, that is a pretty easy decision make, isn't it? But when you make that comittment, make it seriously.. your life will change as the years go by but his expenses will continue every week of every year until his life is over. |
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Consider some of the other ways to solve the problem Moving: If you are moving, have you tried to find a place where you CAN take your pig? In TN potbellied pigs are accepted in every city and town. It's the law. Often city managers don't know that and tell people they are not permitted in the city, but once shown the law, they know better. Do you perhaps just need someone to transport him for you? Or board him while you get settled? Or help fence your new yard? All these things can often be arranged, and you and your piggy can be together in the new home after a transitional period. Travel a lot in your new job? Contact your local shelter for names of reliable pet sitters. Contact local college community service groups. Ask for help from the nearest sanctuary in finding good help, even volunteer help can be found. Aggression : If you are wanting to place him because he is aggressive: Are you keeping him inside? If so, he will get either aggressive or depressed or both before he's 3 years old. Fix the yard to give him lots of space to explore and a nice warm house and boot his butt outside for the day. Even let him live outside if you have the right facility there for him We can help with advice on building or fencing to keep him safe and happy. For special cases we can even help with materials to build a fence or provide a loaner doghouse until you can get one or build one. Depending where you live we can even get one built for you (wholesale) and deliver it. Get him a companion pig for outdoors from any sanctuary near you and he will have the company he needs to work out his emotional frustrations. Someone of his own kind to talk to. Divorce: Divorce is a life change that doesn't have to be a life ending experience for your pig. As hard as it may be to do, take stock of your situation and realize that it may not warrant the panic mode that it feels like. What really HAS to change and can that change include the piggy as well? Maybe you only have to change the life style he and you have had as you get into the work force .. or have to travel more. Think positively and focus on the well being of those who depend on you. He will adjust far better to changes in your home than to being shipped off to some strange place. Call us, we can help with suggestions, moving him, boarding him while you get settled in and setting up an area for him.. . Children Grown up and gone: A pig is a living, thinking, feeling child, not outgrown clothes. He has needs. And will be much happier to have the family of adults as his companions as he matures. Adults, especially retired adults give the best homes.. they are often home more, have more discretionary time and are more sensitive to the emotional needs of the pig. Some sanctuaries have programs to help your pig become a happy companion in your home. Have you tried to place your pig yourself? If you take the time
to check out all the calls and be sure he will have everything he needs and be
safe from danger, sometimes you can place him in a loving local home. Use great
care to visit personally and don't be shy about telling people what is wrong in
their environment for a pig's safety. (And most of these people will be told
"No", they can't provide for him properly) Most callers will
not be the kind of home you want.. many will be simply wanting a pig because
its "cool", many have dogs that will kill the pig the minute they
turn their back and many want them to eat. In this part of the country the main
place they wind up is at hunting preserves, used for target practice... and it
may not be the one you gave the pig to but the next or next person who got
him.. adult pigs are not wanted by most people who get them and usually end up
dead soon after being given away. .. so be VERY careful. If you do find a good
home be sure to tell them that the pig will go into depression when he is moved
and they will have to deal with his sadness. He isn't going to be
"grateful" that he is given this new home, no matter how wonderful it
is. If possible, visit him weekly to help bridge the transition. (Same if
you end up taking him to a sanctuary, a weekly or even monthly visit will do
wonders for his adapting) .Give the new home our web site or another's so they
can find answers when they have problems too. Print off the A Pig in Your Home checklist
Most of the sanctuaries will help you place your pig . using their experience and doing home checks or giving you potential homes to check out yourself after they have done a phone screening. They can also often offer assistance with reduced rates for spaying and neutering, guidance on where to find safe transportation and sometimes provide added services. And be sure you put it in writing that if the pig does not work out or is for any reason in the future they cannot keep him they should contact you. Then you can guide his future safety. Call the sanctuaries and this time there may be room. Other Options to Consider |
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Boarding: many horse farms are all but closed down as horses become an economic burden on families without work. These horse farms often have stud pens that are not in use. Big roomy paddocks with a stall can make a short term or even medium term safe home for your pigs. Add some hay, food and water and a large animal vet and the pig is safe while you work on longer term solutions, FFA and other school organizations. Many kids would like to participate in animal care projects but have the sensitivity that makes raising animals for slaughter distasteful. Ask the county agents in your area who in the community might be interested in a pig who is not a slaughter animal but has many of the same needs for care. Check them out. Kids grow up.. be sure your pig has a safety "tether" attached to you if this doesn't work out long term Check with Wildlife rehab organizations. Sometimes they are remote and have lots of space.. a piggy or two can be housed safely with about any of our regions wildlife. (By housed I mean on the same property where animals are hacked out to return to the wild, not in an enclosure with them) .. possum, raccoons, fox, coyotes, raptors.. none of these present any real risk to an adult pig. Short or medium term, these places, for a small donation every month to help with their primary mission, can make am excellent choice. Usually these people have a good exotic vet available. Contact area humane societies and ask about volunteers who might have pigs or have pig experience and be willing to help with your pig short term. Yesterday is gone, tomorrow is only a guess.. if you can solve today's problem, your pig may get all the help he needs. Be sure you are on the waiting list for a sanctuary opening if that is going to be needed in the future |
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In TN and many of the southern states there are some atrocities that involve pigs every day. But don't think because you live in a progressive northwestern state that the same things cannot happen. Always be alert to red flags and it will keep your pig safe. If you are trying to place your pig or are acting as a placement agency for someone's pig, here are some things to consider when talking with prospective homes:
It is a rare home that can provide a decent life for a pig. It is up to you and I to make sure we place him in that home.. and not one where his life , health and happiness are in jeopardy. We get reports weekly of pigs in bad homes. But the final Responsibility for these pigs rests with all of us who put them into a home. Even places called sanctuaries are not always safe. We have taken in hundreds from abuse cases where "sanctuaries" and " rescues" went sour and the places were shut down, but not before many of the animals suffered and died before that happened. Its an unregulated business and anyone can call themselves a sanctuary. Do your homework.. check them out personally and with vet references. Make sure they are registered with the State as well as the IRS. Be sure to LOOK at their records.. see how long pigs live there, what kind of health care they have had.. don't buy "the computer isn't working", the "files were all lost when we moved" , or my favorite" oh he has always been like that" when asked why a pig was symptomatic of disease. Reputable sanctuaries keep extensive records, paper, backup disks.. records are not "lost" by responsible businesses. .. if they don't have records.. take your pig and run. We will help you with placements. We do not place pigs into unknown private homes. We work with our own list of Shepherds Green members who have been caring for and rescuing and fostering pigs for many years. |
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If you need to catch a pig that's running loose, here are the basics:
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Transporting safely is one of the more difficult tasks with pigs. I have seen pigs:
So, how to transport them safely.
By planning and being patient and careful, you will always have a safe trip.
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And for those angels of mercy who tackle the national or regional rescue of scores of abused,neglected or abandoned pigs: Our guide to the Impossible Save.
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