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"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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