Louie and Ziggy are no longer the mini-pigs that we bought home from Wings Wildlife Farm. These days, Louie and Ziggy look like the feral pigs you see doing environmental damage in one of those scientifically based agricultural magazines. Either that or you can find their relatives in pictures on the internet listed under introduced pests.
Sadly, these pigs may have their days numbered. Of course I still enjoy the pigs but the problem is they have now gotten so big that the fencing around our property is no longer containing them. I came home from work last week to find the field they live in empty and the pigs happily digging up the farmers land next door.
The farmer is currently growing thousands of dollars worth of bulbs to sell for flowers and the last thing he would want is pigs digging up his prized field. Luckily, they only needed to dig up a couple of bulbs to discover they weren’t the tasty treat they’d broken through the fence to get.
Instead they eyed off the food that the farmer had left for the cows and started running over the hill and far, far away. They came back easily enough once I called out to them and had a handful of apples ready. Food is the only bribe you can use with pigs – a sure way to their heart.
Realising that the pigs would either be shot or we’d be in trouble from the farmer we left them in the stables for a few days till we could sort out some new fencing. Doug fenced off the main area that they were breaking through and we let them out. An hour later they were back in the farmers field. Clearly we needed stronger wiring.
Doug then brought some rabbit proof wiring and spent half the morning fixing up the fence. This time it took five minutes for the pigs to make a quick exit. They headed straight for the hay that the farm hands had earlier left for the cows. The cows were bemused to have two pigs joining them for lunch and though they could easily have trampled Louie and Ziggy they kindly let them share.
Soon enough the farm hands returned on quad bikes wanting to know why two pigs were eating the cow fodder. After politely listening to my excuse that the pigs kept escaping and I was at a loss on what to do, one of them said, “chop em up and put em in the freezer, that’ll sort it out!” I protested and said the pigs were pets and it would be like eating my dogs (I didn’t bother mentioning that I was vegetarian because they were already horrified that a pig could be a pet).
I enticed the pigs back and the farm hands rode away. However, knowing that the current fencing won’t hold them and not having the resources to build stronger fences the future looks grim for the pigs. Many people have offered to eat them but somehow, looking at them munching happily on their apples I don’t want bacon to be their fate.
I’m hoping for some kind of miracle, a kind old lady with a few acres so that the pigs can live out their life without the threat of being butchered.
Tags: boars, escape, feral pigs, mini-pigs
