Current call for action: Rosi!

Rosi is a dazzlingly beautiful 9 year old potbellied pig lady. She was abandoned at the Hoffnung für Tiere ("Hope for animals") shelter near Dresden, Germany, when her humans divorced. Apparently there was no place for their faithful companion of nine years in their lives anymore.
Due to Rosi's age and the fact that she has developed a breast tumour, the shelter doesn't believe she will find a new home anytime soon, if ever. But you can become her "godfather"/"godmother" and sponsor her so she will be able to live the last years of her life happily and comfortably at the shelter.
Here is the shelter's potbellied pig page with more about Rosi (in German, with many pictures). If you know German you can use the sponsorship form, and if not, you can contact the shelter directly.

Two concrete examples of prejudice about pigs

This is Eddy. He is currently the only pig staying at the Berlin animal shelter, where he came after his family abandoned him because of "changed living conditions".

This weekend the shelter participated in a local "family weekend" event, and invited the public to lots of fun activities and a market with good food and pet related goods. The weather was really bad, but quite a lot of people still came.

When I found Eddy, he made my heart sing. I talked to him in pigspeak and took several dozens of photos of him. While I was standing there, some other people came along, too.

Among the more neutral comments I heard was, "Yeah, you know, some people keep pigs in their apartment."

An older couple came along and stared at Eddy. Then the woman started to make faces, noises and gestures implying that there was a strong bad smell there.
But there was no bad smell at all! Only the smell of straw!

Then a family with two children, maybe 7-10 years old, came along. The girl kept muttering, "He's so fat."
Eddy isn't full grown yet, and he is quite slender for a pet pig. He doesn't even have a double chin. In accordance with his breed standard, he has a little tummy, but it would never cross my mind to consider him "fat" because of that. (Here is a full-figure photo of Eddy.)
I asked the girl why she said he was fat, but she just stared at me and left without a word. (The parents, as usual, were totally autistic towards their children and didn't exchange any thoughts with them at all.)

The only sensible explanation I have for these comments is that these people have learned that pigs are supposed to smell and that pigs are supposed to be fat, and they can't break free of those false images even when the actual reality is right in front of them.

Spider Pig!

After watching The Simpsons Movie, I was at first disappointed that we didn't get to know what happened to Homer's new friend Spider Pig, or Harry Plopper. I assumed he had perished, like a sinful seducer who finds redemption in the last minute and can die and go to heaven, after all ... But then I read that he will make an appearance in the first episode of the new Simpsons season, which changed the symbolism of his role a bit.

Pet pig factories part II

I wrote an E-mail to the breeder mentioned in the entry below and asked a couple of composed and friendly questions. She only answered to one of the questions:

> My pig didn't
> have his teeth clipped, and I don't know of any other pet pigs in my
> area that have had it done. Why do you do it?

((( BECAUSE POTBELLYS PICK ONE TIT & THAT IS THEIRS FOREVER = IF ANOTHER
PIGGLET TRIES TO GET ON IT & NURSE THEY BITE THE MOMS TIT & SOMETIMES SHE
QUITS FEEDING THEM BECAUSE IT HURTS & ANOTHER REASON IS WHEN THEY ARE
PLAYING WITH EACH OTHER THEY CAN CUT THE EARS OF THEIR SISTER OR BROTHER
PIGGLET . SO IT IS A SAFTY FACTOR & YOU DO IT THE MINUTE THEY ARE BORN & IT
DOESN'T BOTHER THEM ..)))

(That's the whole E-mail.) "It doesn't bother them" ... Right. And how come pigs have survived and bred in the wild for thousands of years and been safe and just fine with their teeth intact ...?
Also, if you feel your arguments aren't enough, maybe caps lock will help the message get through.

The breeder's name is Vickie Barrow, and the business is "Best Little Potbelly Pig House in Texas". I also found this interesting entry in a discussion forum.

Since pigs raised for the meat industry are normally so abused, it would seem difficult to make any case against her and other breeders like her. All I as a normal person can do is say: Do not get involved with people like her.

But actually, at least in European legislation clipping of teeth is strongly discouraged, as described in this publication by the Irish Agriculture and Food Development Authority:

"In 1997 the EU Scientific Veterinary Committee recommended grinding or leaving the teeth intact rather than clipping. This report formed the basis for Commission Directive 2001/93/EC, which was adopted into law in November 2001. In earlier drafts of this legislation teeth clipping was banned but the Directive now allows both clipping and grinding in limited circumstances. The procedures can only be carried out where “there is evidence that injuries to sows’ teats or to other pigs’ ears or tails have occurred”. In addition “before carrying out these procedures, other measures shall be taken to prevent tail-biting and other vices”. Hence, all forms of tooth resection are strongly discouraged and in the future teeth clipping may be banned."

Pet pig factories and sanctuaries for the abandoned and abused

On this blog, I'm experimenting a bit with whether it might actually be possible to earn anything with Google AdSense. But with pigs as a theme, it's a constant battle to filter out ads for businesses that I consider abusive. That includes most websites related to the meat industry and hunting tourism, but today I also seem to have been advertising for an irresponsible pet potbellied pig breeder/factory.

Their ad says, "extra tiny - beautiful colours - ship worldwide", and on the website to which it points there are pictures of tiny piglets and below them links that say "add to cart" (with the note "pigs in picture are not the pigs you will receive - just examples").
The pictures on the site, with just one exception, though I'm not quite sure about that one either, all show pictures of tiny piglets, not full-grown pigs - although it's with the full-grown ones you will spend the most of your life.

Under "Satisfied customers around the world", it says, "I have shipped piggers all over the U.S. including HAWAII and all over the world to JAPAN, EUROPE & Alaska." What kind of person gets a pet transported such a long way, instead of getting a friend closer to home? Won't the pig be traumatized by the long transport?
And: "4 other Japanese men flew over here just to see my piggers! I took them to other breeders' farms to see other potbelly pigs, but they didn't want theirs - they wanted mine because of the small size & pug noses. I know they will be taken care of, they bought two of them from me two years ago & still have them, but wanted more of my little darlings." - Wow, they actually still have the pigs they bought from you two years ago? Is that enough to say they will be taken care of? Talk about low standards.

The breeder does seem to have some sort of resposibility, as she has an "emergency helpline", a phone number you can call 24/7 if you have 'problems' with your pig. She also guarantees that if "for any reason you need to get rid of your pigger, even years from when you bought it I will take it back, and if there is something wrong with it (health wise, genetically) I will give your money back."

But overall, the piglets she breeds are spoken of as goods or toys to buy and play with, because "they are so funny, entertaining & sweet". Not a word about how sensitive pigs are, how much responsibility it takes to keep a pig (or any other animal), how tricky they can be to train and live with, as they are more intelligent than dogs and can easily start manipulating humans (and so can dogs, but pigs can outsmart stupid and inconsequent humans even easier), or wrecking your house and garden out of boredom or frustration.

And another VERY alarming thing is that she states: "I clip their teeth [...] at 1 day old." WHY????
Clipping teeth is a common practise in factory farming, because it "reduces injuries" from fighting and tail-biting (which is a result of the enormous psychological stress of living in terribly cramped, noisy and dirty conditions in factory farms). Here is a report from the Faculty of Land and Food Systems at the University of British Columbia that has come to the conclusion that even in factory farms, tooth clipping is not really necessary. And here is a BBC article about a farm with free-ranging pigs, where the pigs don't need to have their teeth clipped. Why on earth would pet pigs need to have their teeth clipped?!

I probably couldn't ever breed any animals commercially, because for one thing I think it's unethical, with so many pets abandoned on the streets or in shelters all over the world by irresponsible 'owners', and for another I would live in constant horror about the possibility that the new owners of my little babies would treat them wrong.

If you do know that you can handle a pig and take full responsibility for it, are able to care for it, love it and be consequent and fair to it, you should consider adopting it from a shelter or sanctuary. You should definitely NOT buy it from breeders like this, who treat pigs like toys or objects!

Here is a list of a few sanctuaries and shelters for pigs (not all of them have pigs for adoption, but they treat the pigs they care for with respect and as individuals, something everyone can learn something from):

USA
Pigs, a sanctuary
Ironwood Pig Sanctuary
Pigs Peace Sanctuary
Shepherd's Green Sanctuary
Pig Pals Sanctuary
Belly Draggers Ranch

Canada
Hearts on Noses

UK
Farm Animal Rescue

Germany
Schweineparadies
Schweinefreunde/Minischwein-Vermittlung
Schutzengel für Tiere

These are just a few. Sadly, there are many more, as all too many people abandon their 'pets' after getting them without realising what it means to care for a pig.