Pig Family Rescued From Hideous Pen Arrives to Frolic at Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary

For Immediate Release:
July 29, 2014

Contact:
Shakira Croce 202-483-7382

A mother pig and her seven young piglets were released yesterday—as seen on FOX 5 in DC—after being rescued from an absolutely hideous pen in rural North Carolina that you’d have to see to believe. Photos of their arrivalare available here, and a broadcast-quality link of the story is available here.

Instead of being slaughtered, they’ve arrived at the beautiful grounds of the Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary in Maryland. The pigs (as seen in these “before” photos) lived amid accumulated waste and mud in a makeshift pen filled with trash in a rundown trailer park, and their owner was about to sell them for bacon and chops. But PETA came to the rescue, and yesterday they arrived at Poplar Spring, where, for the first time in their lives, they’ll have room to roam, grass beneath their hooves, and healthy, tasty, fresh food.

More details on these pigs’ unique story follow:

When PETA’s fieldworkers found the pigs, they didn’t have any shelter or shade from the blistering-hot sun. The team raced off and returned with desperately needed water and food, cleaned up their pen (removing dangerous debris and laying down straw to keep them out of the waste and mud), and set up a tarp to provide these heat-sensitive animals with shade during the more than 90-degree heat.

After persistent visits, the pigs’ elderly owner—who realized that he had neglected the animals and decided to sell them for home slaughter—signed this bonded family over to PETA. Our fieldworkers lured the shy piglets out of hiding with a special treat—popcorn—and took the whole family to a foster home and arranged for them to be checked by a veterinarian and micro-chipped for safety.

PETA’s motto includes “animals are not ours to eat or abuse in any other way,” and we were eager to get these pigs—who are friendly and exceptionally sweet—to a happy new home, where they’ll have a large pasture, creeks, and a comfortable barn to live in for the rest of their lives.

“Before” and “after” photos and video of the happy family are available.