Admittedly, this year’s pig story isn’t nearly as good as last year’s pig story (no coats) but the fact that we have a yearly pig story is interesting.
This year’s saga (told via facebook) went something along the lines of:
‘Oh, interesting pig!’ ‘Neat type. New to the area. Safely at home behind fence’ …sometime later… ‘Who’s pig is this?’ … ‘Pig Sighted at…’ … ‘Now he’s over here’ … ‘Trailer Court’ … ‘Trego Pub: “Bruce is back, he had a snack. Call us if you need your piggy back.”‘ … ‘In a pen’ … ‘Safely Home’
Photo courtesy of Mel Warren
This time, no coats or blankets were needed. And- at least for now- local news regarding pigs is confined to domestics. Feral hogs coming down across the Canadian line remain a concern- if you see any of those, consider using the “Squeal on Pigs” hotline.
Other things happened -the school went back to in-person learning- but the pigs, and the neighbor who took the very coat off of his back to warm an injured pig, were by far the most interesting thing of the week.
Thursday morning had an unusual announcement on the Community Page – two pigs were out on the road south of Trego School. So long as they were on the road, I figured it was no problem, and kept doing a little maintenance on the Suzuki. Then a red pickup came in, Kiki and the little…
Thursday morning had an unusual announcement on the Community Page – two pigs were out on the road south of Trego School. So long as they were on the road, I figured it was no problem, and kept doing a little maintenance on the Suzuki. Then a red pickup came in, Kiki and the little Lass started their intruder alert, and I prepared the “hunter talk” – a chat that explains that there are too many residences past the trees to hunt safely here.
I didn’t need the “hunter talk”. The driver asked if I owned pigs. I had to get him to repeat himself. Turns out there was a deputy alone on the road with two pigs, one who couldn’t move its hindquarters, a second pig with road rash, and he needed to get to work. I loaded the Pomeranians into the Suzuki and went to be of minimal assistance. Admittedly, the thought of a downer hog dragging itself into the woods was not particularly upbeat. After all, last week was the picture and tracks of mama griz and baby bear.
The first thing I saw was a crippled, shivering market size hog wearing my recruiter’s coat. It is good to know that the neighbor you just met is the sort of person who will cover an injured pig with his own coat as he drives off to search for backup for the deputy.
Todd arrived with the Pub’s Beer Jeep – and replaced the coat with a blanket. I kept the pigs company while the deputy searched for a place the pigs might have known as home. The deputy returned, Todd returned, and then the owners came in with a horse trailer. They were a lot more skilled at pig handling than we were, so the pigs were soon loaded up and on their way. It’s a good community where a guy will give the coat off his back to keep an injured pig warm. And I can speak to Todd’s decency in putting an injured pig in a blanket.
Trego's Mountain Ear 