Miss Piggy
☆ February 14, 2017
Yesterday afternoon, while driving home, I saw a 500-pound pig walking down the road. I pulled over, how could I not? I wanted to meet this giant pig. She was facing away from me as I approached her, rooting in the ditch. As I got closer, about ten feet away, she turned around. Her eyes were tiny squints – it looked like they were closed – and she opened her mouth and started snorting at me.
I don’t have any pig experience – I don’t know their body language or their noises – but this didn’t seem like an aggressive series of snorts. It was more like the intense chatter of someone who hasn’t had anyone to talk to in a while. She began walking towards me, and as she crossed the lane, I said a little a prayer: “I hope this is a friendly pig!” She was three times my size, and I did not want to get steamrolled by a pig.
She got closer, and I reached out my hand, and she snorted her way under my tentative fingers. I stroked her head. Her hair was sparse and so long and coarse! It was like petting a door mat, the kind designed to get mud off your boots. She wiggled closer and I rubbed her shoulders. Her back was as wide and flat as a coffee table. Her tail was a curlicue and she shook it – rather, wagged it like a dog – when I rubbed her back. I contemplated sitting on her and I contemplated pignapping her but did neither.
I stood in the muddy road and pet her for as long as she let me. I marveled at her strange pink body. I told her she was beautiful and she snorted “I know” and then wandered off, rooting for food.
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30 Responses to “Miss Piggy”
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February 14th, 2017 @ 8:19 am
That made my day. Thanks for sharing that lovely image, and I’m sure in real life it was ecstasy.
February 14th, 2017 @ 8:22 am
Awwwww, wish you would have taken a picture of her!! If you check out ~ https://www.instagram.com/wolfgang2242/
Steve has a rescued pig named BIKINI and he rescues senior dogs (9) along with chickens, a rabbit, cats and ducks. I love Bikini – you should get a pet pig for the farmily too.
February 14th, 2017 @ 8:29 am
I LOVE this story! More please.
February 14th, 2017 @ 8:38 am
what a wonderful encounter!
as always, thanks for sharing.
love to you this valentine’s day…
February 14th, 2017 @ 8:43 am
So how long til you add a pig to the family? A day? A week? That is the sweetest story…
February 14th, 2017 @ 8:48 am
Awwww! What a sweet tale!
I used to go to the Frankfurt Zoo to scrumble a Babirusa behind the ears, as he seemed to really like it. The rest of the pig felt very coarse, but the skin behind the ears was so soft, and the dear animal leant into me against the fence.
-d-
February 14th, 2017 @ 8:54 am
I had an eerily similar experience on Saturday in my small community. I was driving home and came across two potbellied pigs, one black and one white, in the middle of the dirt road. I stopped the car because they didn’t move out of the way. Neither pig was as large as the one you saw.
As I got out of the car, White pig came over to me, chattering away, while Black pig kept its distance.i talked to White Pig for a bit, telling it to get out of the road and go home because, living on the edge of a national forest, there are lots of dangers for them, scratched its back a bit, got them to move off the road a bit, the got back in the car and drove the 100 feet or so to my house. I got a couple leashes and walked back to where the’d been – don’t really know what I was going to do with Pigs on Leashes, maybe go door to door trying to find their home?! – but they were gone and haven’t seen them since. I have since heard they are beloved family pets of one of my neighbors (I am pretty new in my community and don’t know a lot of people yet). But the encounter made my day, week, month, and year!
February 14th, 2017 @ 9:20 am
Hi Shreve, you just put into words the way I feel about them. The wiry hair, the friendly snorts, the physical connection, and the strange impulse to sit on them! Nice piece of writing!
February 14th, 2017 @ 9:26 am
What an amazing gift you have to paint such a picture for us. Not to mention how you are with animals…
February 14th, 2017 @ 9:46 am
Shreve and all – has anyone shown you this website and wonderful story involving Ethel?
https://www.facebook.com/esther
thewonderpig/?hc_ref=SEARCH&fref=nf
that link is on fB- argh soon as I can, will show the actual link….. but gotta run ! Love your story !!!!
Look up Ethel the Wonder Pig, if you can !
February 14th, 2017 @ 10:39 am
I have had a Pig Obsession since I was a young girl!! They love scratches and they seem to grunt at all times, usually when they’re moving. They are one of the smartest animals in all of the animal kingdom (I don’t know how ‘they’ measured that) and see in color, unlike all other animals other than some monkeys and us!
Anyway, I entered a pet store on the island of Maui and they had little pigs running around the store, wearing leis!!! They knew how to use a litter box and were delightful.
What a fun encounter for you and the sow!
February 14th, 2017 @ 11:36 am
What a beautiful encounter ! I had to laugh as I thought you WERE going to say you pignapped her!
Thanks for sharing!
February 14th, 2017 @ 12:48 pm
Porcine Paradise!!!!!!!
February 14th, 2017 @ 1:57 pm
oh my my. Sounds like something (exactly) I would do…have done, but only with dogs & cats here and abouts. I was chatting up 2 cats sitting on their front porch steps last night in Berkeley as I walked back to my car from the Gourmet Ghetto…as one does. Your story made my heart smile. These animals that are in our path, know. They just do, and I know that you know that. Glad to have another fellow animal person telling stories.
February 14th, 2017 @ 2:50 pm
You can’t put a regular leash on a pig; they don’t have enough indentations. It’s like putting a leash on a pumpkin. My neighbors have a pig who occasionally gets out and takes a ramble, but with all the coyotes here, an occasional rescue has been in order!
February 14th, 2017 @ 4:12 pm
That was someone’s pet, for sure. Otherwise I doubt it would wander over for a petting and tolerate it.
I love that it had a tail to wag. They can wag just like dogs if their tails aren’t docked. I think docking anything is cruel. It certainly is for dogs as the only reason is vanity.
February 14th, 2017 @ 6:46 pm
Jan, I was going to mention Esther the Wonder Pig too! I love the videos of her getting bathed in the tub, and having to sit in the kitchen before her breakfast bowl is presented!
February 14th, 2017 @ 7:37 pm
What an interesting experience !!
February 14th, 2017 @ 9:51 pm
Such an interesting encounter for you. Do you know where the pig belonged? I am hoping it found its way back home safely!
February 14th, 2017 @ 10:45 pm
What a great story. I wish it was three timeas asking (and with photos).
February 15th, 2017 @ 6:16 am
I’m rolling with laughter! Only you would find a pig on the side of the road and think nothing of making friends with it. You live a charmed life in so many ways! And I envy you.
And if you see her again, how do you plan on getting her home? (I know you are already thinking about that one!!!)
February 15th, 2017 @ 6:24 am
Oh, we have a pet potbelly pig (Travis) and he is now 180 pounds of pure love :) She sounds beautiful. I wonder where she lives and if her owners will miss her.
Bless you for stopping to say hello to her.
February 15th, 2017 @ 10:41 am
Sounds like you met the Transcendent Pig! :) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcendent_Pig
February 15th, 2017 @ 2:26 pm
What a very quaint encounter! :D
February 15th, 2017 @ 5:02 pm
Haha! I loved this story. Thanks for sharing!
February 16th, 2017 @ 4:16 pm
Love this!!
February 16th, 2017 @ 8:07 pm
what a neat experience…. a connection with a beautiful girl.. I bet it made her day :)
February 17th, 2017 @ 10:18 am
Such a wonderful encounter Shreve!!!
Someday I hope to grow up to be just like U!!!
(and I’m quite a bit older) Here’s hoping we all take the opportunity to slow down and notice the amazing things put in our path!
February 17th, 2017 @ 11:36 am
Ethel, who is apparently a wonder pig, has a webpage, which looks VERY commercial. Much prefer seeing her, randomly, on fB.
They have a book out, which I have not yet seen.
http://www.estherthewonderpig.com/
Do like to hear and see how much they so seem to love their Ethel.
We all realize, similar to Daily Coyote, how it was a mistake, that put them together (but a wonderful thing, for all the viewers!).
March 19th, 2023 @ 4:21 pm
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Miss Piggy : HONEY ROCK DAWN