"The

greatness of a nation and it's moral progress

can be judged by the way it's animals are treated." -Gandhi



Montana Large Animal Sanctuary

& Rescue



JUDY'S

STORY

ONE LUCKY PIG

By

Jerry Taylor ( vegan rescuer of turkeys and pigs!)

Judy

is a nice pig. After 5 years and 225 offspring, she was scheduled

to become sausage. Her previous owners, on the small farm in Montana,

admitted their family was attached to Judy, she is the mother

of all the "free range" hams they had sold. They just

couldn't afford to keep her around if she couldn't make more baby

hams.

When we went to meet Judy she was waiting in her open stall for

her evening coffee can ration of pig feed. One of the owners explained

Judy's life style on their farm. Although she appeared to be highly

irritated, supposedly after she was fed she would return to her

usual docile self. Her enclosure seemed small. We were told she

got to exercise in an adjoining horse area. Judy, not unlike other

domestic pigs, sadly suffered from frostbite and sunburn. As I

stood by an adjacent pen containing several piglets, the little

boys explained how Judy could bite you if you weren't careful.

We were assured that by enticing her with food it was going to

be easy to load Judy and take her to her new home at the Montana

Large Animal Sanctuary.

Three weeks later, after setting up a large truck van with food

and hay, the moving day began.

Daanje

and Andy went to pick up Judy while Dave, Jerry, Stan and Lee

hauled a new 8'x12' shed with a gambrel roof to the sanctuary.

Loading Judy was not so easy. After several attempts, lowering

the ramp to the van worked. Judy made herself at home by quickly

rearranging the hay bales and snacking on a 40-pound bag of feed

in the back of the van. The trip to the sanctuary went well. Daanje

only occasionally needed to tap Judy lightly on the nose with

a glove to keep her from climbing into the cab area with them.

When they arrived at the sanctuary, Daanje left the cab to open

the gate. Judy poked her head into the cab. Instead of the glove

tap, Andy said, "Oh hi, Judy." She took this as an invitation

to come all the way into the cab, at which point Andy jumped out,

leaving Judy alone in the driver's seat! It was just then that

Kathryn, of MLAS&R, came down to the gate to greet Daanje

and Andy. All she saw was Judy completely filling up the front

seat of the van, engine running and lights on. Luckily they were

able to coax Judy back into the rear of the van and drive through

the sanctuary grounds to the pasture where her newly constructed

home was located.

Judy

waited patiently in the rear of the van while the finishing touches

were completed on her new shed and the gate was hung.

The big Dave Taylor Roofing van was backed up to Judy's just completed

new home. Judy was understandably anxious to get out. There was

quite a bit of discussion at this point about how to get Judy

down from the high truck without the ramp which had to be left

behind. Finally it was decided to just open the big door of the

truck and see what happens. Well, it happened fast. All 500 pounds

of her leapt from the truck, sliding across the bumper and then

landing on all fours. She seemed at home the minute she arrived.

The

first thing Judy did was to strut with an air of complete confidence

around the perimeter of her new big yard that gently slopes to

the middle where spring run-off makes a small wetlands. This area

will make a great pig wallow for the summer. The llamas next door

were very interested in their new neighbor and many of the herd

of male llamas came running over to greet her.

There was also considerable snorting from the potbelly pig neighbors

on the other side. A bale of straw was broken up inside Judy's

shed and she promptly went inside and rearranged it.

Seeing

that Judy was content, we left for home after a full day of work.

Two weeks later we returned to the sanctuary with a flatbed truck

full of apples and produce trimmings. Brian, one of the managers

of the sanctuary, said that Judy was doing very well and had quickly

become one of his favorites. She loves for him to rub her belly.

We took a gunnysack full of produce to Judy's pen. She seemed

very happy to see us and took great delight in all the food, especially

the cantaloupes. After eating Judy decided to take a little nap.

We sat around with her in the grassy area scratching her behind

the ears and anywhere else she wanted. Judy has a very sweet disposition

and really enjoyed our company.

The Montana Large Animal Sanctuary and Rescue never sells or adopts

out animals. The animals have a caring home for life. Judy is

one lucky pig!

THE

END

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