Rescue & Adoptions

Past Featured Rescues

Stella and Bella

Each year, a few weeks before Halloween, a couple in Hermosa Beach, California sell pumpkins from a small parking lot near their home. To attract customers and make more money, they bring farm animals with them to their "pumpkin patch." Some of these animals come from the couple's own farm, but each year they also purchase two piglets to increase local interest in their enterprise. In reality, they only "rent" the piglets, paying the owner a small fee to use them for a few weeks, and then returning the babies to him when Halloween is over. The man they "rent" the piglets from is ominously known as a "traveling butcher."

In October 2004, thanks to the kindness and determination of Pablo and Sonia, two Farm Sanctuary supporters who live in Hermosa Beach, the piglets purchased for the annual pumpkin sale never had to go back to the "traveling butcher." The woman operating the pumpkin patch agreed to surrender the piglets to Pablo and Sonia, assuming the couple could find homes for the animals before they would have to be sold back to the butcher and slaughtered. Pablo and Sonia told the woman they would try to find homes for the piglets before the end of the month. Keenly aware of the urgency of the situation, they contacted Farm Sanctuary right away.

Our shelter staff worked tirelessly to find loving homes for the piglets. Just days before the piglets were to be returned to the butcher, a loving couple in Temecula, California heard of their plight through our Farm Animal Adoption Network, and happily agreed to adopt them. Now, having been helped out of a bleak and seemingly inescapable future, and into the hearts (and home) of two loving adoptive parents, life is very good for these two piglets.

Their parents have named them Stella and Bella, and readily admit to spoiling the youngsters. The piglets settled in very quickly to their new home, and have become fast friends with the other rescued animals living there. Ever curious, Stella and Bella like keeping an eye on their goat friend Pepper, watching to see what he'll do next. They also enjoy playing games of chase with their new parents, and rolling in the mud with their pig friends Petunia, Blackberry and Strawberry.

Safe forever from harm and mistreatment, Stella and Bella couldn't be happier. As they continue to grow and mature, they learn more about the big, magnificent world they live in. If we pay attention to their tale, we too can learn many things…most importantly, the value of compassion and mercy.