i will be getting a pet pig either when i move out, or when i turn 18. I want to get a pig that would otherwise be murdered for human "benefits", you know, for meat i might want to take it directly from the slaughterhouse, or where they are rasied. any pig, i guess, as long as i'm saving its life. HOw would you go about this? i could get pigs that are raised for being pets, but whats the point? then i wouldn't be saving them. could i pay one of the "murderers" or should i just run in and take? could i even do that? any advice, input, ect?
i don't know how possible it would be to run in and steal a big piggy and just run off with it, but that would actually be the sweetest thing in the entire universe if you did that.
It would definitely be good if you could save a pig Be careful though... You're under 18 so the law can't really touch you if you did get caught I guess. Lovely thought
rather than snag one, help support the organizations who rescue many: give time and/or money. They have an accepted method of rescue and access to lawyers to back them up. Farm Sanctuary is probably the best place to start looking.They have a Cali location and a NY location. I believe they have internships. www.farmsanctuary.org I wrote about a small sanctuary in Deer Trail, Colorado. that accepted 10 pigs that were found half frozen to death a few years ago. Peaceful Prairie.
I've HAD a pet pig. If you go to a slaughterhouse, chances are they will be pigs ready for slaughter. This means fully grown fattened pigs. You are delusional if you think you can just run off with one! They can weigh more than YOU, and if they are not domesticated enough, they can be wild, and actually run you over or hurt you. You'd be lucky to get a rope around it's neck and get it to run with you. And that's only if you can get the holding pens open, and even then, without causing a possible stampede. Noble idea, but not a safe or feasible one. You'd be a lot better off trying to cooperate with the slaughterhouse heads and see if they will sell you one of the pigs and help you get it home safely. If you DO manage that, you've got a huge task of helping the pig go from living a farm pig life to a pet pig life, and that can be hard if it is already a fully grown adult pig and set in its ways. I also hope you realize the work that goes into keeping a pet pig. It IS a lot of work, and hopefully you live or will live some place that has a BIG yard, otherwise it would be an unhappy pig if you are planning on keeping it in the house only or treating it like a house dog. It needs lots of yard space to root in. You have to give up your yard looking nice, too, and decide that muddy torn up yards are pretty. Rooting is very important to pigs. Vet visits, grooming, even going up and down stairs will be extremely difficult because of the pig's size. You don't encounter these problems with pigs meant to be pets.. like pot-bellied pigs for example. They are as easy to keep and train as dogs, and while they still like to root, they are happier with just a small patch of land to root in and don't have the desire to do it as often. But like you said, what's the point of a pet pig, becuase you aren't saving one. If you really want to save slaughter pigs, your best bet is to do what drumminmama said and help out organizations that rescue the pigs. I dont know much about your life or who you are, but unless you have the know-how and physical means to help a slaughter pig transition to pet pig and keep it as a pet, it's going to be very hard and you will be regretting your decision. If anything, at LEAST research what it's going to take to do that before you just go get one.
I used to contribute money and time to http://www.pigs.org in West Virginia. They have done a number of rescues starting with Vietnamese potbelly pigs. Oddly enough a number of pigs came from vet hospitals. Pigs were brought in with ailments that the students had to work on (usually things like distended bladders or hernias). Once the pigs were healthy, they would be killed. Makes sense, huh? Anyway, the students had donated the pigs to the sanctuary. Good luck. Maybe PETA can help.
i guess ishould've put more info into my original post. My friend has a pig, so i could get advice from them. I wasnt plannig on gettnig a full grown pig, i guess i wasnt thinking when i said slaughter house, i was just getting caught up in the thought and i think it would be WONDERFUL to save a pig that's moments away from being hurt! but i was thinking of getting a baby one that's future is being murdered, who sint raised in a large environment. it seems most pigs are raised to be killed, so that wont be hard to find. i knewi couldnt just runin and take a full grown pig, or if i did, i'd need like 6 people (probably), and i knew it'd be mad. ya, i'll probably give to an organization, but i DO want one of my own pigs in the future. that wasy, i know it's growing up well and i can help it and give it all the attenetion it needs, if it even wants attention.
pigs raised for meat are genetically messed with over centuries. They will quickly grow to too large a weight for their skeletons to support and you will have to have them euthanized at some point. Be prepared for that. The folks at Peaceful Prairie could use that cash far better than PETA. THey aren't buying billboards or sending LAME press releases (they really are bad. I don't use them and I'm an animal rights advocate) or stirring up controversial crap that ultimately makes the ARA cause look silly. More power to them for the undercover cameras, but I cannot support the marketing side.
