Remember Kevin Bacon, the potbelly pig in a pickle?
Animal-loving volunteers have saved Kevin’s bacon, landing him a home on an OPP officer’s Perth-area hobby farm where he’s chowing on watermelon and new pals include draft horses, Nigerian dwarf goats and donkeys.
“He’s doing really good — he’s a real sweetie,” according to new pig parent Cara Makort. “If you scratch him behind the ears, he’ll roll over for a belly rub.”
Simply put, “if you treat any animal with kindness and you get kindness back,” she said, adding that finding Kevin a new home turned into “quite a team effort.”
Kevin, three years old and about 200 pounds, turned up in a desperate “ASAP 911” ad on Kijiji.
The poster said he’d rescued the friendly porker after hitting the pig with his truck, but now had to move. If a new owner didn’t come forward, he’d have to “get rid of him for food” or euthanize him.
Sherry Burnett, co-founder of Ruby Ranch Pig and Farm Animal Sanctuary in Kenilworth, got wind of Kevin’s trouble and shared it with her network of animal lovers.
Judith Megesi — “I’m kind of known as the pig foster mom” — spotted the post from Sarnia and contacted her friend Makort, who set out on Father’s Day from her Mississippi Station hobby farm with a horse trailer to collect Kevin.
Burnett has since created a Facebook page to let people know that Kevin is safe.
Soon he’ll be a “boar-no-more,” rescuers joke — he’s getting neutered in August to make him both calmer and less stinky — and is settling into his new home, where Makort is gradually introducing him to his new companions.
Kevin had to be coaxed on the horse trailer and was initially frightened and missing his owner, but within days was wagging his tale and grunting with pleasure whenever she appeared.
Homeless pet pigs are a persistent problem because they’ve become a “fad,” Megesi said. People are won over by seeing a “teeny little pig” that breeders sell for as little as $100.
“They don’t stay small and because they’re intelligent, it’s like having a toddler in your house. Unless they’re experienced pig people, it’s too much for them.
“They make beautiful pets but there are lots of things to know about them … they’re not dogs.”
This case of porcine peril has a pretty happy ending, though.
“The stars aligned for him,” Megesi said. “You can make a difference for one animal.
“He touched the heart of so many people with his plight.”
Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2019
