TAVIA

In June of 2013 a good friend who worked at a local Humane Society contacted us about Tavia. A man wanted to drop her off there, but they had no room for her. After speaking with him I got a weird vibe that he was going to just drop her off somewhere, and when he told me she was 9 months old and only 14 pounds, I was doubly afraid for her safety and told him to bring her to us. He brought her here in the front seat of his pickup along with her food bowls, blankets and a leopard spotted beanbag bed.She was incredibly tiny, small boned and sweet. He was seriously underfeeding her on instruction from a breeder. After a quick look around and a promise to visit and help out on the farm, he was gone, never to be seen or heard from again. Her story takes a bit of a twist very soon after her arrival. We had brought home a very sickly little un-neutered male pig from the same farm that Salty and Ozzie were from. He had many health problems and wasn't a candidate for neuter. We weren't too concerned, because as far as we knew, all our girls were spayed. Our little Tavia disappeared one day almost exactly one year after arriving here, 7 months after our little boar Pigment arrived. We called and called and searched the entire farm and beyond. She had never failed to come running at mealtime. We were devastated, thinking a coyote must have gotten her. We searched and searched, called and called for days, but no sign of Tavia. About a week later we had some friends come over and we organized another search party. I honestly had very little hope of finding her. We spread out over the farm and the neighboring farm, keeping in contact with cell phones. I was off by myself at the edge of the hay field, near a forested area near the back of the property when I noticed the tall grass all beaten down into a little trail that led off into the woods. I followed it, thinking it had been made by rabbits, or maybe deer. There was an old, beaten up wooden box that had been used for a while as a pig shelter, Bob had put it out in the woods when it was too decrepit for use. And sleeping in that box was Tavia! I couldn't believe my eyes and was frozen in place. Then I saw movement around her, several small dark, darting animals. My first thought was 'Oh no, she's injured and there are rats at her!: As I rushed forward I saw that the little creatures that scattered in all directions were not rats, they were piglets. We had no idea she was pregnant. Her belly had been big, but we thought it was "grass belly" something that pigs get in the summer when they graze too much, and she was out grazing from morning to night, every day. I was so very relieved to find her. I called Bob on my cell and asked him to bring a box from the house, and that I had found Tavia and she had some surprises for us. We caught up the babies and carried them back to the house with Tavia right on our heels. I guess she and Pigment had been engaging in some clandestine dates behind our backs. It was a hard situation because sanctuaries should not be breeding, but it happened and we vowed to keep her babies forever. A lot of people turned on us for this, not willing to accept that sometimes accidents happen even with the best of intentions. Her babies will be three this year and they are very much loved. Tavia and all her babies were spayed and neutered a few months later.