Oct07
This Little Piggy Didn't Go to Market
Posted at 10:22 AM | Permalink
| 
Comments (20)
In case you forgot how smart, social, and absolutely adorable pigs are, meet Sherlock. Found wandering down a rural road in Suffolk, Virginia, this little guy was captured and taken to the local animal shelter:
When he was found, Sherlock was still a baby, but he was already castrated and his tail had obviously been docked. That means that this plucky little piglet likely fell off a truck headed to a growing/finishing barn—which is what the piggy flesh industry calls the factories that are used to fatten up little pigs like Sherlock for slaughter. On factory farms, piglets are taken away from their moms when they are less than 1 month old. Workers cut off their tails, clip their teeth with pliers, and castrate the males—all without painkillers. The animals spend their entire lives in extremely crowded pens on tiny slabs of filthy concrete. It gets even more heartbreaking when you factor in the abuse that these animals face: A recent undercover investigation of an Iowa pig factory farm, which supplies piglets to Hormel, documented that workers beat pigs with metal rods and sexually abused them with canes.
When one of our fieldworkers saw the headline about Sherlock in the Suffolk paper, she immediately went to work to find this guy a wonderful home. Click here to see how Sherlock's story ends!
Posted by Amy Elizabeth
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
TAGGED:
Comments
Thank God! he wasn't returned to his "owners" who had already mutilated him!
Posted by: NT | October 7, 2009 11:31 AM
how cute!!!! I wouldn't mind having him as my friend!!!
Posted by: randall | October 7, 2009 11:55 AM
Poor pig, looks so sad.
Posted by: Aneliese | October 7, 2009 12:01 PM
I love this post!!! And the pictures are absolutely heart warming! :-) I wish all pigs and piglets were treated this well as they are shown in these pictures!
Posted by: KathyMarie | October 7, 2009 12:45 PM
I just LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE you PETA! Look at the pig, so happy!!!
Posted by: Niran | October 7, 2009 01:02 PM
what a lovely story, what a lucky little piggy sherlock is. sadly though, it makes what happens to the rest just a little bit harder to take, they are such intelligent and amazing animals.
Posted by: emma | October 7, 2009 01:16 PM
I have a pig. I am her mama and she is my darling. She lays down so I can rub her sweet old belly and grunts the whole time I'm doing it. I love to touch her snout and those adorable little hooves. She is just precious. She has even shown me affection. I am so glad that I got to know her as a pet and not as a food animal. People who eat pigs will never know what they are missing.
Posted by: Sarah | October 7, 2009 01:33 PM
Lucky Sherlock! Pigs are such amazingly intelligent creatures and clearly adorable too!
Posted by: Bluebell | October 7, 2009 02:30 PM
That is SO adorable! I would love to spend time with a cute piggy like that. It is amazing to learn how smart they really are.
Posted by: Kelsey Helmstetter | October 7, 2009 02:49 PM
Pigs, like Sherlock are such intelligent, loving creatures that don't belong on those filthy, sadistic factory farms! No animal does! I hope Shelock will find a loving home as a pet & not on the dinner plate!
Posted by: Christian | October 7, 2009 03:24 PM
Awww how sweet... I once had a pet pig like Sherlock too... seriously, the only difference between dogs and pigs are how we treat them. Why must we make one a pet and the other our meal?
Posted by: Cat! =^-^= | October 7, 2009 08:28 PM
In a humane world no piggy would go to a slaughterhouse. Obviously, we live in an insane and inane world.
Posted by: Brien Comerford | October 7, 2009 08:51 PM
I would have never returned to the "owner" aka murderer thank god we have a happy ending! god bless you sherlock xxx
Posted by: jenni | October 8, 2009 03:41 AM
I love pigs!!!! I can't wait to meet the pig I sponsor at Farm Sanctuary in NY.
Posted by: Pam Ernest | October 8, 2009 07:18 AM
Too cute!!!!! At least this little pig is safe.
I was watching the show Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern... pigs and other animals in other countries don't have a chance... this guy eats things that are just disgusting{every part of an animal, and I mean every part! even bull penis',turtle blood and a live beating frog heart} and he has actually killed his own food a few times....I could not believe what I was seeing.. I knew there was awful things going on, but damn, this was just so gross and sad....I cannot comprehend what he does... he makes me sick with how every disgusting thing he puts in his mouth he claims is always so good...yuck!
http://www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/Bizarre_Foods
Posted by: Tammy | October 8, 2009 08:18 AM
Yay yay yay!!! A feel good story!!! One less little guy for these jerks to abuse and torture. (I am being nice by called them Jerks...) I love people who care about innocent little animals like this little piggy x
Posted by: carla | October 8, 2009 08:59 AM
Slaughterhouses are discusting. Men who run these, and do the sick things that they do like stick rods up them OMG!!!
These pathetic so called wannabe men should have the same done to them!!! Sick...
Posted by: carla | October 8, 2009 02:32 PM
THANK YOU for posting him in his new home...he looked so sad at the shelter (and apparently they didn't have the sense to even give him a blanket)...i have a pig and it made my day to see this guy getting all the love he deserves. :)
Posted by: andrea | October 9, 2009 03:09 PM
I love this piggy and the people who care for him!!Wish so very much that all of the piggys on that truck fell off.I know exactly what happens to them.i am not strictly vegan.(I hope)It disgusts me and makes me cry so much at the abuse that goes on.Don't people care,don't they think animals have feelings, or are they just totally ignorant to the whole situation of factory farming?
Posted by: Wendy | October 11, 2009 09:35 PM
The last picture, I've found it so adorable.
I love piglets.
Posted by: Daniela | October 12, 2009 04:13 PM