Snorkle was found in a freezing open barn in April. His story begins with a breeder who apparently couldn't sell the piglets he produced, so ran them through a livestock auction. At the auction that day were a man and his four year old daughter, who just "had to have" a pet pig. The man bought three tiny babies for his daughter, took them home and put them in the barn for the night. Two froze to death that first night. Snorkle survived and was taken into the house to warm up for a few days. Because he wasn't neutered, he had a strong boar odor and the wife insisted he be returned to the barn. So back he went and it was about eighteen months later that I met him...living in absolute filth...a poop soup up to his belly and beyond. Near their feed trough the mess was halfway up Snorkle's sides. It was April, with ice on the puddles, two open sides on the barn and a cold wind blowing through. His companion was a market pig that was to be slaughtered. (The guy was a butcher and processed animals on his property.) Neither pig had any place to get out of the mess, dry off and warm up. And so, after much lost sleep, a few days and $20 later, Snorkle became my first rescue. He was to be shot and his meat smoked when the other pig was slaughtered because the guy simply wondered what the meat would be like and was "sick of him". Snorkle spent his first night with us nestled in a deep bed of straw and hay under the cap on the back of my truck, probably the best bed he'd known in his short life. The next day was spent at the vet, getting his shots, tusks and feet trimmed and neutered. I'm sure his head was spinning by the time he finally arrived at his new home and discovered life could be better than what he'd known for his first eighteen months. Alix and Mitchell were still quite small and the three of them bonded easily and spent their days happily wandering the yard. When I found that Snork was taking the boys to the ditch by the road, a low electric fence wire was strung across the front yard for a few days. Each pig touched it only once and, once it was removed, never again ventured past the spot where it had been. Having never been socialized, Snorkle was never one to really relax and enjoy a bellyrub and he passionately hated one particular pair of sneakers that I'd wear to the barn. If I wore them near him he'd chomp and foam, posture at me and become very threatening. Once he even chased me and had me cornered in the milk house. Another time as I told our neighbors how much he hated those sneakers , I tossed one in his general direction to demonstrate. He responded by jumping on it, stabbing it with a tusk, flinging it across the yard, shaking it, standing on it and ripping at it, and in general, just trying to "kill" it. The trick was recovering the sneaker. After he finally left it and was a distance away, I picked it up to return it to the house and was quickly chased onto the porch. He REALLY hated those sneakers! Sadly, Snorkle was lost due to a urinary blockage. (See the Health Notes page for a description of the symptoms of a urinary blockage. Barrows (neutered male pigs) can be prone to this life threatening issue.) Snorkle is sadly missed, even though he was one of our less affectionate pigs. We're glad to have been able to extend his life and make his last few years happy ones here at Camp Skipping Pig.
