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Dearest Friends of Animals,
At this time we have almost reached to the half way point of our fundraising goal and our time limit to raise the funds to save the rest of the family from slaughter. Thankfully the man with the pigs was busy this week painting his daughter’s house and was not able to build the crate to deliver any of the adult pigs. Loading the adults will be a large task. We are very appreciative of this extra time and grateful, and we need it!
Donations keep stopping, this cannot happen. The entire family is not with us yet. He will not give us more than 2-3 more weeks maximum to come up with the funds since it will probably be a pig a week delivered. But he wants to bring 2 next week, Mama and Auntie. He has agreed to deliver the Daddy to the farm vet near him for neutering and a tusk trim before bringing him here. I have called the vet twice and am waiting for a price quote. Smiley James, the Dad, will be last to get here for this reason. Smiley James has been living alone all these years, we want to make it possible for him to live with his family at last! I have to have the money each week for the next 2-3 weeks. We have raised almost $1500, thanks to all of you, but we still need to raise at least another $1500.
Please ChipIn: http://www.chipin.com/contribute/id/0fa0045cc865cfaa
The first photo below is Rosie’s Sister, Rolanda, the largest and leader of the siblings. We named her in honor of our dear friend Rolanda of EVOLVE! Campaigns, UK (www.evolvecampaigns.org.uk) who has been working non stop to help us save and reunite this family of pigs.
Thank you all for your support. Please keep spreading this story amongst your friends and please ChipIn if you possibly can. No amount is too small, it all makes a difference when added up together.
Introducing Rolanda the piggie!
The next two photos below are of Rosie’s two sisters who are in need of extra loving care. When they arrived they limped to the shelter and have had a hard time walking and standing since. The farmer says one of them got into a fight with the brother the week of the big trip, and she is also a picky eater, preferring to eat bread to the offered barley. There could be several reasons for this problem and we are monitoring it, each day they get a little better, thankfully. We have not named these two yet, for a few reasons… I have been calling one of the farm vets who make house calls all week, since they arrived… twice a day… I spoke to him once and he said he would call back the next day but didn’t. I don’t want to say any more about that at this time, don’t get me started on the topic of working with the island vets. I have a bit of a love hate relationship with them, though I try so hard to keep it in the love. They are human. The other farm vet is not making trips to this side of the island for two weeks. The general opinion is that it is something muscular, pulled muscle or strained, due to the chase, capture, and transport trauma. It may also be their hooves. Understand these pigs have not been eating anything but bread and barley so they are missing the nutrients and protein needed that is found in the fortified pig pellets. This fact may come back to haunt us later in their lives. Each day they walk a little more. I have been taking them out from the others lately so they dont get picked on for being down and not moving, so they can relax and build strength.
This photo is of Rosie’s little Brother Chris (black pig) and Valentine. Chris is 2 years old and Valentine is only 10 months old, though they are the same size, Chris probably weighs less. Chris is very skinny, and today a 10 inch tapeworm living inside him came out dead, we dewormed them on arrival. This explains why he is so thin. Not only was his diet lacking in vital nutrients, but he had a large tapeworm sharing his meals. He seems to be feeling much better already now that the beast within is dead. Chris was limping too but today is almost over his limp. He loves the pig pellets, he should be growing strong soon now. He is very cute!
Below – Who is in charge? Rosie or Rolanda?
Rosie used to be the runt of the litter and Rolanda was obviously the leader. Now that Rosie is the biggest of the siblings, there is a bit of a power trip going on between these two. At first Rosie really was struggling with it, you could see it, I always worried about the reunion, if she would like it or think “Oh no not them”, being that she was the runt. You could see the runt psychology return in her instantly, she stood frozen for days, with her head bowed not knowing what to do, some sort of inner conflict was going on, she was confused. Rolanda would push her around a little and I was amazed to see the amazing Rosie, quite used to getting her way, take a few hits. Then, the change happened, and Rosie would present herself to Rolanda, almost saying, hit me with you best shot, and she would stand her ground. I think she wanted to see what she was up against. Then came the over the top Rosie, telling her sister… I am bigger and stronger than you now, things have changed a little, you can no longer push me around. They seem to have worked out their situation and I am sure they will be friends and true sisters soon.
Up to now, Rosie was still sleeping with Valentine and the four siblings were sleeping together all cuddled up, and Walter and Francis were sleeping side by side. This evening when I went and checked in with a flashlight, I noticed Rosie and Valentine together of course, and the two little injured sisters together. Walter was sleeping alone, enjoying the space, and Uncle Francis had two little friends, Chris and Rolanda sleeping over with him. I am very happy they are all getting along and look forward to being able to reunite the Mama with her children and that the father, who has been living alone, can in time be with his family too. But we need your help.
Please be an angel for these pigs and make a donation today. $1750 is still needed for this rescue to be a complete success. At this point I could do it for $1000 more, but I would be skipping steps in the fencing and post department that I dont want to skip. We have so far completed phase one of a three phase plan for this project. Thanks for your support.
