In June, members of our animal care team went to Tennessee to lead a Sanctuary clinic week with Odd Man Inn Animal Refuge (OMI). This self-described “refuge for animals out of options” was first incorporated in Washington state, but this year, they acquired 93-acres of land in Jamestown, Tennessee—and with it, guardianship of 160 pigs. Now, they’re in the process of moving their operations to Tennessee and learning who lives on the property and what type of care they need.

“The animals have not had medical care or basic health maintenance for many years,” explained Wendy Smith, Co-Founder and Director at OMI. “There are no medical records, and our only means of identifying the animals has been through old social media posts.”

Soon after taking on this project, OMI reached out to Farm Sanctuary for help with the pigs’ first health checks, triaging with a local veterinarian for more severe medical needs, and developing records for their newest pigs.

“We knew through this collaborative work, that we had an opportunity to improve the lives of all of those animals and the humans who care for them. We knew we needed to act on that,”  said Farm Sanctuary’s National Co-Director of Animal Care.

By working together, all of these animals—and their people—could start their next adventure on the right hoof.

Pigs may come across as tough, but they’re sensitive creatures with specific care needs. As this new group was overdue for wellness checks—and as pigs can be unruly and impatient patients—the OMI team wanted all hands on deck to get these pigs the care they needed as efficiently as possible.

They’d need hoof trims and tusk trims; eyes, nose, and ear checks; body exams to feel for any abnormalities; weight management plans; and treatment for any injuries they may have sustained. Those with severe health conditions would need additional veterinary care. And the team had to create the pigs’ first healthcare charts to document each animal’s incoming conditions and monitor changes to their health over time.

This individualized care includes food, shelter, love, and veterinary treatment when needed—just as people do for companion dogs and cats.

Pigs can live up to ten years or more when given proper care. On factory farms, however, they’re slaughtered as babies—at just six months old on average. By this time, they’re already packing 170 to 240 pounds. It’s more weight than their bodies would naturally carry, and nearly two-thirds of industrial pigs develop joint pain from this excess strain.

Additionally, breeding sows—mother pigs bred to birth piglets for slaughter—spend most of their lives on concrete floors and in metal slatted cages. They can also develop major joint pain along with toe lesions to their sensitive feet.

As the industry doesn’t let them live very long, it doesn’t implement healthcare standards that support longevity. But any pigs who survive and go on to a sanctuary will need weight management and more supportive care to prevent further damage to their overtaxed bodies.

It is also sobering to note that most veterinarians don’t routinely care for pigs in their adult and elder years simply because they’re rarely given the chance to grow old. The more sanctuaries and vets collaborate, the more knowledge we’ll all gain about proper care and treatment throughout a pig’s natural lifespan.

A sanctuary is a place where these animals can heal from exploitation and finally live on their own terms—not how others raised them to be. Once they’re no longer sick, in pain, or afraid, they can focus on what (and who) makes them happy.

At Farm Sanctuary and Odd Man Inn, pigs run and play in the woods with their friends. They gather straw in their mouths to build sturdy nests and then cuddle their loved ones—skin to skin—to sleep. They’re empathetic and responsive to other pigs’ emotions, meaning they can feel happy, angry, sad, or scared based on how another reacts. And when a beloved friend or family member dies, other pigs may comfort a mourner through their grief.

They get through the ups and downs of life together—and in fact, they’re better together. So are we.

Together, OMI and Farm Sanctuary completed seventy health checks, moved three animals to trailers to be transported to the University of TN Large Animal Hospital, and moved four pigs to medical stalls for immediate attention from OMI staff. Everyone had hooves and tusks trimmed, photographs taken, vaccines given, and microchips placed.

But while individualized care is the goal, the process isn’t easy. Wendy cited the property’s lack of infrastructure to safely contain the animals for appropriate and safe medical care as one of their biggest challenges. “It took Odd Man Inn three months to build fencing and medical stalls,” she explained. And when our team arrived, we built additional pens and safe working spaces for the humans and the pigs.

“With a herd this size and the very limited resources of a small rural town, we had to use our brains collaboratively to safely contain and move animals in a respectful way,” said Wendy.

And together, the team discovered a new way to move pigs safely and with lower stress via a mobile fencing system, now known internally as “Pac-Man”. “Pac-Man” allows caregivers to enclose large pigs without heavy equipment or cruelty. (We already know we’ll be using this knowledge in the future!)

The team made a plan to go slow and steady to ensure everyone was safe during the process. At the end of the day, they would debrief and discuss how to do it better the next day.

“Each day we stayed positive while navigating new hurdles,” Farm Sanctuary’s National Co-Director of Animal Care said. “I couldn’t have had a better team to lead and work alongside for this task. To say this project was a success is an understatement.”

The most important takeaway for everyone involved (and for all sanctuaries), is how vital accurate records are, as well as a safe routine for basic healthcare. OMI’s healthcare routine has always included professional vet care, recommended vaccinations, medical records, and routine hoof and tusk care––but it’s not a universal practice.

“We’ve had to emergently triage animals’ medical needs first based on severity of illness [but now]…more routine care can be accomplished,” said Wendy. OMI is now creating digital records for each animal, including photos and identifying marks, so anyone can easily access and understand them.

And the positive impacts from the visit are tangible. Wendy is already seeing a dramatic decrease in limping and tusk-related injuries. The pigs are also benefiting from herd management.

“Changes in routine are hard for animals,” Wendy explained. “But they needed the interventions in order to maintain peace in the herd. Animals who were being bullied have had a drastic improvement in their quality of life here––and animals who were doing the bullying have now felt significantly less pressure to dominate.”

We do this work for friends like Ennis: a former industry pig who now spends his days lounging about in his personal swamp and building tree forts for shade from the sun. And for Charity, a feral pig who can explore her world safely without fear of being flagged as a “pest” and potentially hunted with dogs.

[Video description: Charity pig drinks from a trough at Odd Man Inn]

“It will take a long time to get all 160 pigs fully tuned up in Tennessee,” said Wendy, “but the Farm Sanctuary team helped us catapult that process.”

We’re grateful to know that these 160 lives—plus their Washington crew of animals—are in capable, loving hands, benefitting from OMI’s five years of experience. And we’re thrilled that their staff will be able to share the takeaways from this week with others in their rescue circles. Because sanctuaries are a circle of compassion—and every positive action ripples outwards.

A crucial part of our leadership work lies in sharing our 35 years of experience with others in the field. There’s no place for competition in animal rescue: The United States slaughters nearly 10 billion farm animals each year.

Even if every sanctuary rescued at capacity—Farm Sanctuary is home to more than 800 animals across our two shelters and Odd Man Inn now houses a little over 260—we can’t rescue our way out of this system.

“While it makes for sensational social media content to rescue new animals, that cannot come at the expense of the animals who have already been lucky enough to find a sanctuary home,” Wendy said. “All animals deserve top quality standards of care, but in a sanctuary setting we have the responsibility to set those standards.”

Instead, we pool our strengths with others doing this work to promote systemic change. Every animal we can help becomes an ambassador for the billions killed anonymously (and horrifically) each year. Their stories of survival, resilience, and recovery help people connect with them as individuals—not objects.

And every person who stops eating meat after making a connection with a rescued friend at Sanctuary also saves more than 100 other lives a year by reducing demand for animal flesh. That means exponential change for these beings, while also improving conditions for workers and communities, public health, and the environment.

And it all starts with one individual—and one connection—at a time.

To read more from our interview, check out A Q&A with Wendy Smith, Co-Founder and Director at Odd Man Inn.