Out of the Frying Pan … Into a Good Home!
This little piggy didn’t go to market. Instead, Olivia, as she is now known, is living with her forever family.
Several weeks ago, Olivia fell off a truck along Interstate 80 in Iowa. A driver who saw what had happened stopped, picked up the piglet, and took her to Animal Rescue League of Iowa (ARLI). She needed surgery to repair a broken femur, and then several weeks of rehab, including water therapy to strengthen her repaired leg.
Laura Nicholls of the ARLI says its not uncommon for piglets to fall from livestock trucks. They tend to pile up on the mother pigs for safety, but then fall through the larger holes at the top of the truck.
“They’re just lucky when someone brings them in,’ Nicholls said. “They actually get a chance at a nice full happy life.”
Olivia now has a new family home, where her mom, only identified as “Deb” had already taken in another piglet, Jethro, who had also fallen off a truck.
“I’m just fortunate to be able to help out with some of those animals that other people may want but they can’t,” Deb said.
Pigs are full of character. “They’re all different, like dogs,” Deb said. “They each have their own personality.”
British prime minister Winston Churchill once summed it up in his usual, pithy way:
“A dog looks up to you; a cat looks down on you. Only a pig treats you as an equal.”