An email came in from a humane society in Kentucky.

They had found a young farm pig that appeared to be suffering from exposure, malnutrition, and it was painfully apparent that he had been attacked in some horrific way. His ears were torn and bloody, his head and face was lacerated and his left eye was severely damaged. There is simply no pleasant way to describe this poor guy's injuries.

Something in the photos that we received drew me to this gentle creature, and I wanted to do whatever we could to provide him with love, care and a safe place to heal. Though we are full at the sanctuary as usual, we decided to make room for him at Happy Trails!

So after being treated by their local vet in Kentucky and given the ok to travel, the piggy's bags were packed and arrangements were made for him to arrive at our half-way point in Cinncinati on Thursday, February 19th. During the course of making our plans to bring piggy to Happy Trails, I received the sad news that his left ear had fallen off due to the trauma. How sad, and how painful that must have been. The little guy had been through a lot in his young life, and I couldn't wait to get him to Happy Trails so he could begin to heal, both physically and mentally.

Rob Willard, a Happy Trails board member and transport person, met the piggy's chauffer who brought him along on the first part of his journey in Cinncinati. Piggy was then taken to OSU Veterinary Hospital where he was once again checked by a vet. It was determined that piggy needed his wounds cleaned out thoroughly, and probably some surgery to repair his horrific injuries. Our vet at OSU determined that the trauma had occured about several weeks prior to his rescue by the local Kentucky humane society. 

This past week, I attended the OVMA Midwest Conference in Columbus, and stayed about ten minutes from Ohio State University. Rob Willard had come back down to Columbus for the conference on Sunday, and before we headed back to Happy Trails, we stopped in at OSU to check on our newest rescue.

I could have cried. He was the most precious thing I had ever seen. He was soundly sleeping on a blanket splattered with blood from his massive ear injuries. I quietly crawled over to him and started to talk softly and lightly pet his neck. I immedately started to do Reike with him. He slowly picked his head up and tried to look at me with his good eye. "We have a name to try out for you to see if you like it!" I told him.

Names are quite a humorous subject here at Happy Trails. We try to come up with names that have meaning, names from another language, names that are uncommon, or names that simply fit the animal. Often we'll "try out" a name with them to see if they respond to any one name in particular. The way this little piggy got his name was quite unique.

Saturday evening, four of us ladies at the vet conference climbed into a cab to head out for dinner. Sarah sat in the front seat, and Lisa, Dawn and I sat in the back seat. Our cab driver had a rather thick accent, and I was intrigued to know what country he came from. Perhaps he could help us pick out a name for the pig! I encouraged Sarah who was seated in the front to see if she could engage the driver in conversation. In a very short time, she learned that his home country was Ethiopia, and that he spoke three languages, but he talked mostly about his home language. "So how would you say pig in your language? We are trying to come with a good name for a pig!" Sarah explained to him. He seemed confused and asked her back, "Pig? What is pig?"  "You know. Pig. Oink oink! Pig. Oink oink" she repeated. Oh dear Lord, tell me she just didn't say that...I began to giggle in the back seat. It ends up that he would call a pig, an oink oink pig, a "boye", pronounced "boy-yay". Their conversation continued, as Sarah went into great detail about the pig and it's rescue, and she kept calling it a small pig. "Word for small is 'Jebbi'," the cab driver told her. It is pronounced 'ghe-bee' with the accent on the 'bee'.  "Eet ees a jebbi boye," he said matter-of-factly. And so the name was created. "Sounds French," I observed. Ends up that it is. So, back to the visit with little Jebbi Boye...

He slowly warmed up to me when he figured out that all I wanted to do was to visit with him. I had this urge to want to protect him from anything bad in his life and to make sure that he would never be harmed again. He rested his head on my arm, and then he snuggled up against my sweatshirt. As he continued to wake up, he decided that I would make a good toy and he began to chomp on my dress shoes. He also slobbered on my hand, my leg and my face. He was just happy to have kind and gentle human contact. A belly rub sealed our friendship, and I explained to him that he had love and care and servants waiting for him at Happy Trails — that he had a family who already loved him and cared about him. He would put his nose in the food bowl but not attempt to eat. I was worried about that. He would put his face in the water bowl, and even though I scooped up water in my hands and he would bite at my fingers, he would not attempt to drink.

"The nice doctors here will do some surgery for you tomorrow to help your ears heal," I told him. "If you want to come home with us later this week, you need to eat and drink to get strong!" Before we left, he had buried his nose deep into the food bucket and politely ate...and ate...and ate... 

How exactly did he get attacked? We may never know. However, we do have several guesses: There was a terrible ice storm in that area of Kentucky around the time that piggy was discovered. One guess is that he may have escaped from a pen and as he ventured out in the world encountered a dog, coyote or wolf who then attacked him. The other possiblity is that the attack may have been a planned attacked, such as when dog fighters use a farm animal as bait to train their fighting dogs to kill. With either scenario, Jebi Boye's wounds appear to be inflicted by a predator.

The surgeries that are now needed to repair his wounds include ear surgery on his right ear to bring the pieces-parts together to create as much of a functional and usable ear as possible. The veterinarian will also take a skin graft from his forehead to create an ear flap for his left ear to prevent rain, dirt, debris, straw and flies from getting into his ear canal and creating infections. Also eyelid surgery will hopefully make it so that he can successfully close his left eye to keep the eye properly lubricated.

Right now we are looking at about $800 in medical expenses. If you would like to help us with the care of Jebbi Boye, donations may be made either through PayPal or by sending your donation marked for ‘Jebbi Boye’ to Happy Trails at 5623 New Milford Rd., Ravenna, Ohio 44266. We anticipate that his entire rescue and medical procedures will top $1,100 by the time all is said and done.

Many thanks to the kind folks in Kentucky who found the little piggy and called the local humane society. We truly appreciate the efforts of the humane society who got him immediate medical attention by a local veterinarian, and who took the time to try to find a sanctuary where the little guy could get the extensive help that he needed in order to heal. Details about the Kentucky Humane Society and the awesome folks involved with them will be posted soon!

Tuesday, February 24th

Yesterday’s surgery addressed Jebbi Boye’s right ear, and the ear parts were pulled together and sewn up so that the open wounds and damaged tissue will now have a chance to heal to together. He came out of anesthesia just fine, and later was up and walking about and eating. He is SO resilient! He will definitely need your continued prayers as he undergoes his remaining surgeries and his little body begins to heal. As we hear more updates and surgery notes from OSU, we will surely keep everyone posted!