On Monday, September 28th, a call came in from an animal rescue worker in Trumbull County. The Sheriff's Department needed help with a pig that was now loose on the highway after having fallen off a slaughter-bound truck filled with farm pigs. Could Happy Trails help?  Why of course!

 
PHOTOS
Click here for a series of photos of the rescue of Scarlett The Pig.

(Make sure you go all the way to the end to see her in her Star Wars blanket!) 

STORY
Happy Trails Board Member, Rob Willard, picked up a very traumatized young lady, a pretty pink pig with black spots on her back end. Pretty, that is, except for the for the large bloody areas where she hit the pavement and skid along the highway. She was made comfortable in our horse trailer and brought back to Happy Trails.

While we waited for veterinarian, Dr. Randy Alger, to arrive, we set about making her as comfortable as possible. A crew of volunteers were on hand to help her settle in and to comfort our newest resident. She was quiet. Too quiet. The pigs we've come to know and love are not quiet animals. They are vocal, opinionated, and not shy about letting you know if you're late with their dinner. This little girl didn't make a sound. Not a good sign. She laid there on top of the straw, and we noticed her shaking. "Pam, can you please get her some blankets?"  I felt so sorry for her that I wrapped my jean jacket over her until Pam could get back with the blankets. It wasn't much, but she seemed to like it.

We offered her water, and she gratefully took a long, slow drink. We showed her some grain, but she mostly played with the pellets. She thought about eating some, but then decided not to. It was then that we noticed the huge bruises on her snout, face and along the lower side of her jaw. It must hurt to eat. She laid back down, and by this time, Pam arrived with three thick, warm blankets. The gentle pig allowed us to cover her up with the blankets, one by one, until all you could see was her nose and eyes looking up at us. Her eyes were half closed, and she seemed extremely tired. What a horrific day she had up to this point.

Dr. Alger arrived, and with his quiet and calm professional demeanor, carefully examined piggy. The bruises were traumatic and deep. Her cuts and wounds and road burns were many and raw. Yet, no legs appeared to be broken. She was sensitive to the touch, and we were concerned about possible internal injuries. After talking it through, we decided to keep an eye on her for a while to see how she would do. She had an occasional cough, which we addressed with an anti-biotic just to be safe. For pain, she received a shot of an anti-inflammatory. The strange thing was, she stayed perfectly still for both shots, again, very unlike normal pig  behavior.

During the entire settling-in process and vet visit, Happy Trails volunteer Pam Kavali, continually softly pet and quietly reassured our new pink friend that she was in a safe place and that we were trying to help her. I am complete convinced that piggy understood and that is why she was so cooperative. Pam seemed to have a way with comforting the pig, and the gentle creature was more than happy to accept the comfort.

We decided to keep an eye on things by keeping piggy in the trailer and using it as a hospital isolation and recovery room for right this second. Happy Trails Co-founder, Russ Fisher, rigged up lights and heat lamps, and he and Rob stretched a giant tarp over the entire trailer for additional warmth. Piggy had, by then, looked like she was snuggled in for a long night's sleep. The only problem that remained was that piggy needed a name, and I asked Pam if she could help out with that.

The next morning, Pam let us know that she chose the name "Scarlett", so we tried it out on new piggy just to make sure it was ok with her.

I carefully unhooked the tarp on the trailer and slowly opened the door, to find that piggy had apparently just awakened and was sleepily looking around. She was alive and alert!  I crawled over the thick straw to her and greeted her. "Pam came up with a name for you — we hope you like it. Do you like the name Scarlett?"   "Mmmgghhhhh," came the immediate reply.  She made a noise!  She grunted!  No more silence!  She not only approved of her new name, she showed us yet another sign that she planned to be on the road to recovery. She continued to thrill me with positive signs, such as standing up (slow but steady) and peeing. So those inside parts seemed to be working! Good deal! She wandered over to the water dish on her own and took a long drink. I showed her the grain I had just brought, but she still didn't want to eat. I understood because of the obvious pain in her face and jaw, but we had to get something nutritious in her. She laid back down on her Star Wars blankie, and I went off to feed everyone else.

A bit later I tempted her with soft fresh bread, cereal and crackers. The bread went over big, until I used it to hide some medicine. Blah! Out came the bread and the meds. Second try - same thing. Phooey.

After work, Pam stopped to check on Miss Scarlett. She brought her some smashed bananas and applesauce. That was the hot ticket! Our cooperative patient is, as we speak, stealing the hearts of volunteers left and right.

This morning, Scarlett greeted me with a contented "mmgghhh" and then got up and ate her breakfast. We are all still hopeful that Scarlett will continue to heal with each passing hour, and that the horrendous trauma that she experienced will soon be gone from her memory.

But why did that happen? I am guessing that it's giving us an opportunity to shed light on yet another hidden out-of-sight-out-of-mind issue of animal cruelty in the food production industry. I've talked to guys who drive the meat trucks and their stories are beyond belief what is allowed to happen to animals in and during transport. Pigs are often crammed so tightly into the trucks that because of the amount of weight being pushed against them, their rectum will prolapse. It's a common occurance apparently. Some pigs, as well as other animals, do fall off the slaughter-bound trucks. Often they are not picked up, and left to suffer and die on the side of the roads. In the winter, I have heard numerous stories of the pigs on the outside of the group that is being transported freezing to the sides of the trailers because they are transported in bitter winter temperatures with no protection from the elements. Once at the slaughterhouse, there is a documented number of animals that are not stunned nor rendered unconcious before butchering and dismembering. This number is recognized and permitted by the powers-that-be that govern animal slaughter. To me, even one animal who is still alive while it is being dismembered is one too many.

Food For Thought:  Each time you purchase meat from your local supermarket, you are supporting several industries, including factory farming, inhumane transport of live animals, and the (regulated but not really) slaughterhouse industry.

How can you quit supporting animal cruelty industries? By choosing environmentally friendly and healthy vegan food choices. Someone made the comment to me recently that they "realize that we have to eat meat".  Being a vegetarian for over 20 years and somehow still being alive and healthy, I explained that people don't "have" to eat meat, but rather it's a choice that they make. I have watched family members and friends suffer heart attacks and strokes due to unhealthy diets of high fat, high cholesterol, and their addiction to red meat.  By taking control over the foods that you choose to put in your body, you are multi-tasking by helping to save the environment, preventing animal cruelty, and creating a healthy body to give you a long and happy life.

Watch the Happy Trails website for information and educational websites on the benefits of a vegetarian diet. In the meantime, good websites to check out are www.mercyforanimals.org and www.goveg.org.