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Farm Sanctuary Offers Shelter to Escaped Arkansas Pig

National Shelter Director Susie Coston: “We would love nothing more than to give her the compassionate ending that many Arkansans want to see.”

Watkins Glen, N.Y. – July 10, 2009 – Farm Sanctuary, which operates the largest rescue and refuge network for farm animals in North America, today offered to shelter the escaped 800-pound pig who survived a highway accident on I-430 in Arkansas on the way to the slaughterhouse during the early morning hours of June 22, as well as a week surviving on her own before surfacing in a swimming pool at a Westwind Drive home near the site of the crash. Farm Sanctuary has relayed a message to the farmer in whose possession the pig currently resides, offering lifelong refuge for her at its flagship sanctuary in Watkins Glen, New York.

“Like everyone else, we were touched by the image of this brave pig enjoying a cool dip in the pool,” said Farm Sanctuary’s National Shelter Director Susie Coston. “It became an even more poignant sight when we realized she is likely a breeding sow, which means there’s a good chance she has also spent most of her life confined in a metal crate so small she could not turn around or even lie down comfortably, as is common industry practice. Pigs are highly intelligent, sensitive animals who have the same innate desire for self-preservation and capacity for enjoyment as we do. She deserves to live out the rest of her days in a place where she can enjoy fresh air, sunshine, mud baths, and the companionship of other pigs. We would love nothing more than to give her the compassionate ending that many Arkansans want to see.” 

Farm Sanctuary has more than two decades of experience caring for and rehabilitating pigs rescued from factory farms. Last summer, when the Mississippi River overflowed and flooded pig farming regions in the Midwest, the nonprofit organization was formally invited by the Iowa State Department of Agriculture to undertake its most ambitious rescue to date. After nearly three weeks on the ground undertaking an unprecedented disaster response effort, Farm Sanctuary rescue workers were able to rescue 69 pigs, many of them pregnant gestation sows, and bring them to the safety of the organization’s New York Shelter, where they received intensive and rehabilitative care.

Farm Sanctuary is the nation's leading farm animal protection organization. Since incorporating in 1986, Farm Sanctuary has worked to expose and stop cruel practices of the "food animal" industry through research and investigations, legal and institutional reforms, public awareness projects, youth education, and direct rescue and refuge efforts. Farm Sanctuary shelters in Watkins Glen, N.Y., and Orland, Calif., provide lifelong care for hundreds of rescued animals, who have become ambassadors for farm animals everywhere by educating visitors about the realities of factory farming. Additional information can be found at farmsanctuary.org or by calling 607-583-2225.