Petey and the Rake: The Curiosity of Playful Pigs

Those of you who've been lucky enough to catch Deb Durant's previous guest posts on this blog (or who are familiar with her blog, Invisible Voices) know that her stories about the animals at Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary and her gorgeous accompanying photos are a treat. The following post and photos are no exception. Make sure to click through for the whole story and all the photos. -S. Ernst

Petey came to the sanctuary over a year ago, rescued with his brother, Otis. In this picture of them running through the snow last year, they are expressing such obvious joy that even people who don't know pigs at all can't help but to remark on it. Maybe because they were little piglets in that picture, and piglets are remarkably similar to dogs, which most of us are familiar with.

Their current happiness makes a sharp contrast from the situation they were rescued from. They were victims of extreme neglect, extreme enough to be prosecutable under various laws. If you are familiar with the status of farm animals' meager protection under the law, you will recognize just how extreme the neglect would have to be for the law to come into play. These are animals whose brutal deaths are protected by the law, after all. Their lives have far less protection. In this particular neglect case, when the county stepped in, a momma pig and her eight piglets were living on a trash heap. They were rescued, and two of the babies came to Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary.

Petey and Otis are about half grown now. As with adult dogs, adult pigs retain their curiosity about life, though without that exuberance and excessive energy that we associate with the babies. Sometimes that means it is expressed more subtly.

Sometimes it is even more blatant.

A couple weeks ago when we were working in the pig yard, one of the other volunteers had put her rake up against the fence as she took her bucket out to dump in the spreader. This is what we always do, and usually this isn't an issue.

While she was dumping her bucket, Petey began investigating her rake. They knock them down fairly often, and they knock over the buckets even more often, needing to always know what we're dragging around in the buckets. This time Petey picked up the rake in his mouth and started walking away with it. The volunteer was flustered, not sure what to do, so she followed after him expecting him to drop the rake. As Petey headed purposefully to the mud puddle that the pigs created for their own enjoyment, she started jogging after him with more purpose, hoping to save the rake from Petey's intent.

Alas, she didn't get to him in time, and he purposefully placed the rake handle into the mud puddle. Then dragged it in a bit more. I'm pretty sure he was grinning.

I helped rescue the rake. It was gross, but it was also hilarious.

Petey then laid down in the puddle, content. And maybe a bit smug.

It was such a classic pig thing to do. They aren't nimbly playful the way cats and dogs are, but they are at least as curious about the world around them. They don't play fetch, they don't chase after sparkly wand toys, but they are nevertheless playful. They are problem solvers and pranksters. They can be cranky and they can be sweet. I don't think they are anything like what we expect. They are so much more.

People see them covered in mud, and they think that pigs are dirty animals. It doesn't occur to them that the pigs are using the mud to protect themselves from flies and sun and heat. It doesn't occur to them that humans go to expensive spas for the same treatment.

It is so easy to make them happy. I hope someday that spreading happiness is a priority for more people.