Pig Little Lies

- People see... people on TV with a little teeny pig that they're holding and it's like, "Oh my gosh, I want one of those."

Everybody wants a small something.

- It goes crazy for a while and they keep getting bigger and bigger.

And then we go crazy about 9 months later 'cause they're getting rid of all of them.

So it's... it's a... it's a vicious circle.

[music] [phone rings] - Oh, is that your phone?

[phone rings] - Hold on.

There's 2 pigs, bonded pair, at a high kill shelter.

They have basically until tonight.

- Whatever it takes, we're gonna get those pigs out.

[pigs grunting] - I don't have any place to put pigs.

I have pigs all over town.

- There's nobody else who can step up for this?

[music] [pig chewing] [music] [music] [silence] - Cindy is this fabulous character.

And she's like, kind of, one of these Hollywood characters, a lot of personality.

She's a tough Germanic woman, but she's got a heart of gold.

And she rescues horses, she rescues goats, and she's got a spot.

It's so hard to find people to take these pigs.

So we created this Unchained TV Rescue Center in Cindy's backyard, basically.

- Simone called me and said, "Well, we have this... this pig in the shelter that is with her husband," Simone always called him, 'her husband.'

So he's with... she's with her husband.

And then she... What... what actually got me was she showed me the video of the two.

And Bea was so scared being in the shelter.

You could tell like she was surrounded by dogs, they were barking.

And you know, they're predators for her.

So I...

I...

I... My heart went out to her because she was fearful and he was very protective of her.

And they actually were telling me, "Oh, he's really aggressive because he put himself in front of her to just like protect her."

So I figured welI, I can't save all of them.

But if I focus like, really, really intensely on just one or just two, Uhm, sometimes you can hit a home run and that's what we did with... with... with these guys.

- We get the pigs out.

That's already a monumental task.

You can't just walk out with pigs.

You got to have a way to transport them.

They are large.

It's a 3-act play.

We get them out, we get them to Cindy's and we think [sigh] "Okay, we could take a break."

No.

Mama is pregnant.

[music] - It was not good news.

I mean, you know.

Of course, you want to celebrate life, but it was- it wasn't good news.

[music] No.

[music] - They can have anywhere from like 6 pigs to like 14 And we got the full load.

We got 13.

[music] - What... what are we gonna do?

What are we gonna do?

How we...?

[music] - She got slammed.

[music] - So this is the laundry room.

This is where the babies were born, and they lived there for the first like 6, 7 weeks of their life And then I made the backyard available to them.

So now they can actually come out when we open the door.

And they can all come out and run around.

But this is where they were born.

I'm gonna go in there right now and feed them in there, so we can actually pet them and see them up close.

[music] [indistinct chatter] [music] [indistinct chatter] - You now you know why I get stuck in this room and I just spent like an hour, like it's-- how can I leave here, right?

It's like... it's cuteness overload.

[music] - Everybody wants a potbelly pig, when they're a baby like this, but then when they grow 250-200 pounds, then they just dump them at the shelter.

[music] [exhales] - Well there's something else to this too.

The breeders actually take these babies at this age or younger and they sell them as what they call Micro Pigs.

And they tell people, "Oh, this is as big as they're going to get."

"They're never going to get any bigger than that."

So people buy 'em and they spent like $1,200-$1,500 for the "micro pigs" and they're just babies.

So, then the same thing, people take them home and they think, "Oh, I have a micro pig, right?"

"It's never gonna grow."

"I can have it in my apartment", and then these animals get to be 80-100, sometimes 150-200 pounds, and that's... that's when they end up in a shelter because that's way too big for apartments.

But that's the breeders misrepresenting what they're actually selling.

They're actually selling babies, but they are misrepresenting them as what they call micro pigs.

And that's part of the problem.

- I had no idea that there were so many potbellied pigs, in particular, at the shelters needing help.

- They were born in here.

This is their mama.

This is Bea.

Uhm, who is the best.

She has been such a patient mama with us.

And look, she lets you guys all be in here.

She's just amazing.

She's been a very good sport because the babies have been handled a lot.

They've been a lot of people over here, playing with them and everything and she's just the best mama.

- So Bea came from the shelter.

Uhm, she and the daddy of the babies, Dante, both came from the shelter.

They were stray intakes and she was on the kill list.

So she would have been dead the next year.

And all of these babies and everybody would have been dead the next day.

And it still took 2 weeks for her to have her babies, actually.

Uhm.

It was an awesome experience.

We bonded.

She and I bonded over this a lot.

And I was sitting with her all night when she was in labor, Uhm.

which was kinda awesome for me.

It was very emotional.

And then of course, I went to bed at like 6 o'clock in the morning, and at 8 o'clock in the morning, she had the first babies.

[music] - She had 13 babies So interesting.

Pigs have either 10 or 12 nipples.

And Bea has 10 but she has one weird little nipple in between so she actually has 11 nipples but she had 12 babies.

So one was the runt.

Uhm, that's actually little Violet, uhm, ended up not getting enough food.

And she got really weak.

And we had to give her electrolytes and everything.

And my friend Jamie was over here and said, "You know what?

I'll take her home."

So, Violet from day 5 actually stayed with Jamie.

And Jamie had raised her.

And that's what you saw.

That's why she's such a sweetheart, and that's why she's so awesome.

- But everybody else, the other 11 babies stayed with mommy and stayed with me and everybody is healthy.

Everybody is doing great and they're just the best kids.

And I love them so much.

[laughs] [music] - Uhm.

At 5 days, I took her and I hand raised her.

She was 240 grams.

She weighed less than a can of soda, and now she's about 10 pounds.

I said, "I'll take her."

You know, 'cause Cindy had the other ones and had a lot going on and I said, "I'll take her," because we do wildlife rehab as well and I said, "We don't have babies right now.

I'll take her."

"I'll feed her, whatever."

And about not even a week into it, she said "Oh you know when you're ready to give her back," I said, "Oh no.

No.

I'm keeping her.

She's mine."

"I will not be parted from this animal."

Nobody is more shocked than I am.

[music] - Having the gift of being able to... you know, see a picture online or getting a phone call, and being able to pull them out of the grips of death is uhm... is a high that I don't think anybody really realizes.

Unless you're involved in a rescue like this.

[music] - When we rescued these animals, they couldn't all be together.

Mama and Papa had to be separated.

[music] And that was heart-breaking 'cause they were on the same property.

And Daddy didn't even know that his wife was on the same property with then later his babies.

And so, it was sort of heartbreaking to keep them separated and the father by himself, the mama in the laundry room, but it had to happen to ensure a smooth delivery.

[music] - It was really hard.

Uhm.

Also just to separate a bonded pair, right?

He doesn't know why.

He might have known that she was pregnant just by instinct but he doesn't know where he is, but he's in this new environment.

He's alone although he can see goats, and he can see other pigs but he's alone.

And he doesn't have his wife.

And she's just away, completely gone, then he has to be fixed.

And so there's some, you know, there's... there's some trauma in... in the moving him out of now where he's become accustomed to and then, you know, he's fixed.

And then he just probably doesn't feel very well after that.

Uhm.

So just separating them was really hard because, of course, we wanted them to have each other for life, but it's okay because we knew that that moment was coming and they were gonna have a beautiful life together and raise some of their babies together.

And so, that I think just got us all through it like, "Dante, just wait, just be a little patient."

like "Your woman's coming back."

[music] - I don't want them messing with my farm animals.

- at every turn, there seems to be a new danger.

Pig is no match for a pack of coyotes.

[coyotes howling] - You cannot kill these pigs.

- Maybe we found the place but the place is a slaughterhouse.

- All life and energy coming together as one for our planet.

[rustling noise] [music] - Babies at 10 weeks old now and they're still trying to nurse and Mommy is so ready to get rid of them.

So, yes.

We got to have to bring the Mommy up front, we got to bring her up to the barn, but right now the barn is not ready for that.

[music] - I know.

Yeah.

-Who's this?

Come here.

All right.

[music] - Because they just learned about treats yesterday, so they're not quite sure.

Look at this beautiful girl, blue eyes.

She's gonna keep her, blue eyes.

[music] Okay, let them pass missy.

[music] - Pot-bellied pigs are fifth smartest animals in the world.

They have the cognizant level of a 3-year-old child.

So if you can imagine a toddler as opposed to your dog, it's the same kind of thing.

They can think, they can reason, they could puzzle.

They have emotions far beyond that of a dog.

They're very clean.

They learn tricks super fast and all kinds of them.

They can do agility races, and all kinds of things if you put the effort in.

Most people can be a dog parent.

Not everybody can be a pig parent.

[music] [music] [music] - Now, we've got another problem.

Coyotes.

[music] [howling] - Do you really have coyotes here?

- Yeah.

Yeah, they come down both driveways every day.

I mean every night, they come down my mom's driveway, which is okay because I have a... uhm... a livestock guardian dog on that side and nobody's living in the house next door.

So, yes.

[music] - Baby pigs are very dramatic.

They squeal and they scream and... and they play fight.

[squeal] And they're just...

They're very loud.

And that should be, you know, a call to a coyote, you know, half a mile away of like "dinner, ding, ding, ding, dinner."

[coyote call] [coyote call] - I love the coyotes.

They have the right to be, we are in their area.

But I don't want them messing with my farm animals.

- This is coyote country and they're all over the place.

And guess what?

It's their land.

We're not anti-coyote, they have a right to exist.

We're encroaching on their territory.

But coyotes would love to have a little piggy as an appetizer.

We've got a real problem.

How are we going to protect all these little pigs from the coyotes?

What are we going to do?

- They're gonna be squeaking, and squeaking.

When they want to eat, they squeak.

So the coyotes are going to hear that.

- So how do we keep them out?

Well, I think coyote rollers is the only way.

It's where I'm gonna have to put coyote rollers.

- What the [bleep] are coyote rollers?

- A coyote roller is a roll that you put on top of a fence or on top of a wall to keep coyotes out of your property.

When the coyote jumps up on the wall, they have to grab onto something to pull themselves up and over the wall.

Since there is a roll on top, they have their paws on the roll and they basically just slide off the roll.

It doesn't hurt them.

It's not traumatic for them.

It's just they can't get a hold on the wall or fence and so, they can't get over the wall.

- We don't have the money for this.

Like, we didn't budget this.

We don't even have the money to fix all the pigs at this point.

- Okay.

But we need it.

I mean, you got to...

So you wanna have the babies and then the coyote comes over the wall and eats the babies?

[crosstalk] - How we gonna raise this money this fast?

[crosstalk] It's a bottomless pit.

I mean, it's like... - We didn't plan on any of... Yeah.

- We didn't budget any coyote rollers.

- No, we didn't .

- We didn't budget because we're not the ones breeding these animals, and then dumping them at shelters when they get too big, because you thought it was a micro pig.

And there's no such thing as that.

- Yeah, We were hoping for 6 babies.

Not 13.

That's right?

- Yeah, that's the problem.

[music] - Put it up on Facebook.

Put it up on Facebook and ask if somebody can help us.

- Maybe?

it has to be somebody who knows what they're doing though.

Can't just be some guy off the street.

I mean, it has to be somebody who's a contractor or something like that, who knows?

- It has to be somebody who's drilled in block walls before.

- Yep, - It's not brain surgery.

- It's not suppose to be brain surgery.

[crosstalk] - It's taking a piece and drilling it in.

- Well, we just found our answer... - Maybe you should do it.

- Yeah, sure.

[laughs] - Great.

[music] - I think what we need is some strapping guys to come in.

- Strapping?

- Strapping.

Yeah, looking like, you know, the "thunder down under".

[laughter] I want them to come in here and do the work.

- Good luck on that.

- And not speak.

Just drill.

[crosstalk] [laughs] [music] [music] [music] - What the [censor sound]?

- There's no coyote rolls.

- We don't need coyote rolls.

- Oh no, no.

We need coyote rollers.

- No, we don't.

- This... this is the street, right?

- Yeah, that's the street.

- We need.... we need coyote rolls.

- No, we do not.

- Because I've been living here for 22 years, there's no coyote - But then that would make no sense.

Why are we putting coyote rollers there if there is no coyote rollers there?

- Because it's a dark drive way this... behind this.

- I understand that coyotes are so smart, they're not going to say, "Oh, I'm not going to step 2 feet over and go over here," - Yes, they do.

Yes, they do.

And I tell you why, this is a really busy street.

They do street racing on the street at night.

They will not stand on that busy street and try to get [crosstalk].

- Can we have extra coyote rollers?

- No, we don't need them.

- So we don't even have any extra?

- No.

- We have 52 feet which is exactly what we needed.

And we don't need them there, seriously though.

- I mean, it would be lovely to have more of those, right?

- Okay.

But... but... - You know me, I'm like, "Where's the money?

Where's the money?"

And we don't need it.

This...

I've been living here for 22 years, they will never come to-- no coyote will get over the wall.

They just won't.

They would have to stand on the side way on the sidewalk.

- I know.

- Of a really busy street.

[crosstalk] - I...

I hear you.

I think we need them, but I do want to go test the coyote roller that you guys don't like.

- She can't test them but here's one thing, I'm...

I'm a wildlife rehabber.

I go to coyote hazing classes.

I know what I'm talking about.

No coyote will go on that side.

It's a busy street.

They're not gonna do that.

Not if they can go to the other side and there's a really quiet driveway where they can hide out and jump over the wall... - Animal rights activists are a bunch of characters.

And we had quite a motley crew.

And every single one of them, including myself, wildly eccentric with all sorts of quirks and of course, there were many dust stops.

We all love each other and we'd die for each other but during this crazy process of trying to make a home for these pigs, there were conflicts.

- Seriously, I have a problem... Are you filming this?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Now, I don't care if it's been 20 years, it's 20 years later and the coyotes now for the first time, they're gonna hear these little squeaks coming out of here.

Don't you think they're going to be all excited?

that... we already know that they're up and down the driveway all the time.

So now for the first time in 20 years, we're going to hear all these piglets back here.

They're gonna get very excited.

They're gonna try to come in here and what do you think they're gonna say?

"Oh, we're going to only try from this side."

"We're not gonna try from the street."

It just doesn't make any sense.

Coyotes are smart.

- I do think that they could probably get over this.

- They can get over this wall in 2 seconds if they want to but they will not because of the situation of the busy street.

But now that they have heard of piglets in here, they might want to.

- But if it's late at night.

[crosstalk] [crosstalk] Guys, what can we do about this, it's not going to be pretty [crosstalk] Maybe we can make a barbed wire fence or we could raise these by putting on a couple of more-- [crosstalk] Yeah, true.

[crosstalk] Let's put--let's put some more-- Okay, - Right there ladies.

it's my property, it ain't gonna happen.

That's not gonna happen and I'm gonna put my foot down.

This is safe [distant talking] And then make something terrible to happen before anything.

[crosstalk]- Nothing terrible will happen Okay, at night.

Here's another thing.

You do realize that those piglets at night are going to be in there, right?

[music] [music] - We have a possible solution and it's thanks to the generosity of Anthony.

Tony, Could you say what you wanted to do?

Well, I'd be willing to buy another set of rollers if you'd be willing to allow to put on the property.

And he'll pay for it.

he'll pay for it.

[music] Pay for the whole thing.

- I just don't think we need 'em.

- I know you don't think you need 'em, [crosstalk]-I really don't-- But just to be on the side.

if he pays for them and arranges for the installation too.

It's no skin off your nose.

And they're actually pretty [crosstalk] Rachel may not sleep at night unless we do it, or she might make us all crazy.

[laughter] And then we could all be harmonious and everything will be wonderful.

- I'll tell you what if you're willing to accept it, I personally, personally will make a thousand dollar donation to your sanctuary.

- Yey!

[crowd cheering] [clapping] - Yey!

[crowd cheering] [clapping] - We got a thousand dollars!- We did it!

Today is a big day.

Today, we are moving the pigs from Cindy's laundry room into the front yard, where the Unchained TV rescue center is, where they're going to be living permanently.

That sounds easy, but its not.

- In an ideal world, they would all just march out and just... but I don't think that's gonna happen.

So uhm...

I did get some pig panels and so I hope that we can just kind of guide them with the panels.

So when the baby starts going in different directions then we can just kind of bring them back in.

And also, hopefully they'll follow their mom, Uhm.

I would think that hopefully she'll go easily and then that they would just go with their mom.

Well, you know, it's going to be rough because the pigs are very used to living in their one little space and it's actually quite far.

So we're going to have to get a, some panels and everybody get together and kinda make sure that they don't run amok because actually, it could be very dangerous if they run amok, It really could.

So we have to be really, really careful with what we do.

Okay, but first just tell me what is where we're trying to get them into your, for the first time.

Is that the you-- - Get them here?

Where are we?

Where are we?

Yeah.

Okay.

We are trying to get them in here for the big reunions because Dante doesn't, Mrs. Dante he came with Beatrice from the shelter, the kill shelter and he doesn't know that he is a father and he doesn't, he hasn't been reunited with Beatrice now for many months.

- His wife- That's right his wife [crosstalk] and why, and his babies.

- That's right.

- So wait, Papa's over here, Mama's here she will end, - and the babies - the babies are here, - And actually what lovely is Dante and Beatrice are going to be able to raise some of their babies.

The ones that don't get adopted.

Cindy already has some that she's keeping, - it's really important when we're recognizing these pigs as individuals, that they have names and as soon as I found out that they had been named Beatrice and Dante I just...

I thought, "Wow what a love story" Since Simone.

kept going on.

"Oh, they're, you know, they're, they're couple."

"And he's her husband."

So I looked at the great lovers in history and, of course, everybody Romeo and Juliet is one.

And then I thought, nah that's that was too on the nose and they weren't Romeo and Juliet that wasn't like their relationship.

And I came up with uhm well, Dante Alighieri, who I greatly admire his writing, he had a muse, in the name of Beatrice so that was Beatrice and Dante and I thought they were good names for pigs.

- This is super exciting.

You know, I look at Dante and I...

I know that he's interested but he doesn't really know yet that his wife has been on property.

This is the big day.

They get to meet each other.

And I'm so...

I never thought this day would come.

Honestly, you know, getting them out of the shelter, a pregnant, female with a bonded pair.

It's really, really hard.

And having to keep him separated, you know, while he was getting fixed.

You know, having her having her babies.

It's like, it feels like forever, but it's only been a couple months.

And now I'm just...

I'm elated.

I'm elated to know that they are going to not only be reunited but they're going to be able to raise their... some of their babies together, probably two or three.

So it's really exciting.

- And so they're in now.

Uhm, the pig is not out yet.

The daddy, Dante, who will hopefully meet his family today.

He's not out.

So, we can open this and this gate and bring the pig... hopefully, bring the piggies in and we'll see how it goes.

It's gonna be fun.

- This one of the craziest days because I think we all thought, "Oh, they're just going to drop from the laundry room into the front yard."

No.

There's no words.

- Guys, somebody behind them, please.

Keep them in there.

[distant talking] [music] - Very good, yes, keep, keep going [pigs squeals] [background talking] Okay, okay.

- Come on guys.

- Babies.

Baby baby, baby, baby.

Good babies.

- Was that 11?

- Good babies.

[distant talking] - Good job, guys.

Okay, so they stay in here.

Okay?

[music] [distant noises] [music] [distant noises] [music] [distant noises] [music] [distant noises] [music] [distant noises] - I want to try, I think I can do it.

Let's do it.

Come on.

- I think we could do it.

-All right -You'll do it.

Okay, we're gonna do it.

We're gonna get it done.

- Okay, this is why I pull the black dog - No, these animals, they're really stressed out, right now.

They're getting hot.

They don't know you.

They're back with us and they know us.

We were with them from day one.

So, no.

I don't think so.

- Well, can we just try now?

- No.

[music[ [music] [pig squeals] - Oh good girl.

[music] [pig squeals] I know.

I'm gonna bring her up in the barn.

Bring them one by one [music] [pig squeals] [music] Got to get them-- [music] [music] [pig squeals] [music] [pig squeals] [music] [music] [pig squeals] [music] [background noise] [music] [pig squeals] [music] [pig squeals] - Do you mind?

Weight is thirty pounds.

[pig squeals] - They look small but their... - They're just super dramatic.

Like I mean, not saying that they weren't upset, they were upset to some degree because they've never been up front here.

But also they're... they're so dramatic.

Like we had one baby that, he was upset with us and he just fell over and he screamed and screamed.

He had a total fit like a little toddler, so they do that.

They're just babies, they're only 12 weeks old.

So they're still a little babies and they get really upset.

- What I think is exceptional about pigs, and people don't ever mention them enough, they are super emotional.

They're very sensitive, their emotions are off the chart.

I think they are worse than humans they cry, like we do.

They get upset.

They can get physically sick from being upset or being depressed or they will stop eating, being depressed.

They are way more sensitive than any other animal I've ever dealt with.

And I think people probably underestimate them.

[music] [music] - It's okay.

I'm gonna give her some water.

- Okay.

- Okay -What about a treats?

- No, I wanna give us some water.

- She's on YouTube right now.

She's stressed, she might drink some water.

[music] [music] - She just doesn't know what's happening.

- We could open the gate a little, just try to - Alright baby, now we gonna blow bubbles.

Okay bubbles are good.

Okay.

Alright, missy.

Come on, now.

Yes, cool off.

We're almost there, Bea.

Almost.

[music] [distant talking] [laughs] Yes.

-Okay, good girl.

- Wanted to swim?

Pool over here.

Let's go over the swimming pool.

[music] [distant talking] [music] - The wrong side but it doesn't matter.

They are where they're happy [music] We don't want to let the daddy be together with them yet because we don't really know how he's gonna react.

He should be okay.

But we don't know, he hasn't been with Bea since November and he has never seen his baby.

So just in case, if he is aggressive, we don't want anything happening to the babies.

So the way to introduce them is we're going to have them on one side of the fence, him on the other and then they can slip each other for a while and I'm going to watch them.

And if he's like.... if there's a lot of tail wagging and he's really happy, then they can be all together soon.

But right now we want to just make sure everybody is safe.

[music] [background talking] [music] [music] - Did you think it was gonna be this hard?

- No, no.

I didn't.

I thought they would, at least all go like into one direction, or at least like, "follow my mother."

No, I didn't expect that.

But hey, you know what?

We got him.

[music] - We're going to start by rubbing your hands together.

Bringing that energy in.

Bring up to your heart, becoming present in this moment.

Right here, right now.

Welcoming ourselves into this beautiful new space, for these baby pigs, Mama and Daddy, to all be together again.

[singing] Smile.

Bring in joy.

Take a deep inhale.

[inhale] [music] Sending love to all known and unknown.

- I just wish we could free them all.

- I know.

- I wish it wasn't just this family.

- Yeah.

When we come together is one with love, there is nothing more powerful.

When we were all standing around.

I could feel the energy in the air and it's beautiful.

- Just seeing the family here together, and they look so happy now, uhm, it just makes me feel good.

But again, there's so many that need to be saved.. - Frankly, it was stressful.

When the pig started squealing, it broke my heart because I know they're not being hurt.

But I just felt really stress for the mom especially, but now look at them now.

I mean, this is amazing.

- It was so heartwarming to see this mama pig with her babies coming through.

To their new home together.

To be reunited in a safe and happy place.

- Calm down.

Cool down.

- Mission accomplished baby!, Come on.

Come on.

Mission accomplished, Mission accomplished, we did it!

- Yeah, you could call them all.

[laughs] - Mission accomplished!

[laughs] [music] Today is surgery day for Beatrice, and we're all scared out of our minds because we're worried.

We don't know, we see their stomachs sagging, it's very nerve-racking.

- Her belly never went down after she had the babies.

I had one vet out here and said, "Well she's bigger on one side than the other."

and she was thinking she might have a tumor, they actually do get uterine tumors and that's not uncommon if that's what it is it's perfect because since we are spaying her that would all come out and it would be no problem.

If she has a tumor closer to her spine or to her liver which there's a possibility of that, then we're going to have to make decisions today.

[music] - Uhm, this animal has already been through hell, put in a shelter.

Who knows what happened before that?

Then pulled out of a shelter then put into a laundry room, then taken to the front of the house and she's keeps acclimating to these new situations.

Now, we've gotta take her to the vet.

[music] - Here, go go go, keep going [pig oinking] No, no.

Over there, good, good girl.

[laughs] [music] - Come on.

We got to go right there.

[music] - Go in the crate, please.

Go in the crate, please.

In the crate, please.

- Good.

Good girl.

- Oh, good girl, Bea.

In the crate, please.

Go in, good girl.

Go in, Go in.

Bea, no.

In.

[music] - It's okay.

Okay, missy you gonna come back, okay?

I promise you, you're gonna come back.

You're gonna be with your babies.

This is your forever home.

Okay, missy it's okay.

It's okay baby, can you trust me?

We've been through so much.

It's the last thing.

Come on baby.

- If we do something wrong and she dies, we will never forgive ourselves.

We've rescued this animal.

We want her to live.

We want a success story.

[music] - You know, that forward motion isn't working.

Why don't we get her to back into the crate?

- That's an idea.

- We can try that.

I doubt it will work.

[crosstalk] - Cause she's pretty smart.

- But we can try it.

- Okay, missy.

[pig noise] - Ah, good.

Let's go - Good -Brilliant - So good - Okay [music] - I do have to say she was so nice about this.

She could have bit the [censored] out of us and like she never even made an attempt to bite.

So I...

I have to say as much as she put up a fight, she could have been a hard one.

So she's a good thing.

[music] - It.. it just really amazes me that she's just so gentle like you said, she could have bit us, but she didn't.

- But she never has to try but she's okay.

- I love that out of all my pictures and yes, and she's very very [crosstalk] She has got to be underestimated, but she's just vocal and she figure things out.

And she's just... she's kind of funny because she does what she wants and she gets away but she's really smart about it actually.

[music] - I am making up her cocktail.

It contains some drugs that some tranquilizers, some sedatives, and some pain medication, and then once she's out, we will intubate her.

Which means we put a tube down the trachea and then we put it on gas.

Just like if she was a dog or a human at a hospital.

And then we'll prep her for surgery, put an IV catheter and give her some more pain medication and then get her underway for surgery.

This is the hardest part because she knows when I'm... when I'm standing there with a needle, she pretty much kind of knows that I'm sort of hunting her, trying to give her a shot.

So we have to be kind of sneaky about it and they... they pick up on sneaky really quickly.

[music] We're doing an ovarian hysterectomy.

Pigs seem really prone to getting uterine tumors Not necessarily malignant but space occupying.

And so, the University of California, Davis tried doing the ovariaectomy.

But still he's recommending ovarian hysterectomy It takes the uterus and ovaries.

It's... it's really nerve-racking.

And we're all like really nervous of what's gonna happen.

[music] I'm not worried that.

There's anything bad in there, [music] - Uterus look good.

She was not in heat which is always makes it a lot easier and so it seems like she did very well.

Anesthesia wise?

- Oh my God, this is fantastic.

Oh, thank God.

Thank God.

- Yay.

[music] [music] [music] - Just tell us what you're going through.

- I'm just really hurt okay.

[music] - Harriet was... She was my girl I don't know why.

She lived here with Cindy, but she was my girlfriend.

We're still not entirely sure what she died of what's the kidney failure.

But she's gone, and I'm devastated.

She was a good girl.

[music] - It's three months since Bea had her surgery and today's the big day we wanna have the family together that they've been like next to each other through the fence, quite a while now.

And this is the day where we want to see if we can reunite them and have them actually be living as a family.

[music] We hope this is the big Happy Ever After for Dante and Beatrice.

They're going to be officially reunited and we're hoping that they kinda ride off into the sunset together.

- I'm feeling really positive about it because they were so in love at the shelter.

What could go wrong?

- Are they gonna be reunited?

Like the romantic couple they're named after?

Or are they gonna go full on Johnny and Amber?

Last time we tried to introduce them, they were fighting bitterly like really viciously.

[pig squeal] - We have to be very careful that Beatrice doesn't attack Dante.

Why would she do that?

Not because she's a bad pig but because in her mind she's defending her babies.

They've had a little bit of tussles in the past when we've tried.

So we're hoping that having experts here might be able to get through this.

- We brought in one of America's top pig experts.

- My name is Teri Crutchfield, I'm the founder and director of Saving Animals and Healing Hearts.

I was initially more into horse rescue, suddenly I was able to get a pot-bellied pig that I always wanted and that was the end of it all.

I fell in love.

I found out all the trouble that they have is overbreeding and everything else.

They're so smart and so emotional, and I just connected with them.

So we started saving a lot more pigs and we do anything else.

[music] - Saving Animals and Healing Hearts facedown in the San Diego area.

We brought her up here for the specific purpose of looking at the situation and making sure these two animals are reunited properly.

Because if you just throw them in together, fireworks.

[music] - Teri has been guiding us the whole time ever since we first came.

To me, Teri has been an amazing help.

She has lots of experience with piggies.

She has a lot of pigs herself and she has been our expert from the day one.

So we brought her in today because this is a little tricky to introduce the two pigs.

And she has way more experience with this than we do.

- They'll work it out rather quickly, but if he goes to run hide, there's nowhere for him to hide.

We have to protect them, - Okay - Okay?.

So if they tussle, it's okay, if they start to bleed, it depends.

I'll yell if it needs to stop.

- Okay, - We will... We will take your cue You will be our person and we will.

-Promise I won't let anything happen to them.

- I know, I mean, I know.

- I mean, we've got to have her act together and it's really important because we're reuniting two pretty strong animals that if they don't agree and they don't hit it off.

You don't know what could happen.

[music] - I'm nervous.

I'm really nervous.

- I was tossing and turning last night, You know, maybe we found the place but the place is a slaughterhouse.

- You cannot kill these pigs.

- We gonna take the hawk kennels down and we got to put him flat against the wall.

So they cannot get in the way of anything.

[music] [Heartbeat sound] [music] - We want them to be able to, you know, communicate in a way that pigs communicate and to sort of let each other know, "I'm not a threat to you."

But if the miscommunication happens, you know, there can be bloodshed.

[music] - Ready.

- Okay, I'm ready.

[music] [music] - It's going really good.

- Bea has not made any purposeful aggressive moves.

She's super interested in treats, she's really not interested in him.

And that's good.

That's how we want it.

The wagging tails are both really good.

They are not aggressive.

They're just hanging out having a day.

- I'm very, I'm very happy with one thing.

[music] [Distant chatter] - Get out to join to the party.

[music] - And so now we gonna introduce the babies into the mix.

So we don't know how she's gonna react once the babies come out, but the babies have been with both.

There's some of them have been with Dante before.

Some of them have been with Beatrice.

So, they should be okay, but we want to see if she gets possessive or if she gets pushy with them.

So, [music] [distant chatter] [music] [distant chatter] [music] [music] - It's a love story.

Dante and Beatrice.

- I am so happy.

Yeah, this is... this is hopefully their happily ever after because they will have a forever home, they will stay here for the rest of there life.

All of them and thank to Simoun.

There is one happy family.

One big happy family, right?

- I'm completely delighted and I can't wait to see how it unfolds in the future.

- Oh my God!

He's gotten so big.

- I actually held him in my lap.

[music] - I can't have him in my lap, he's just too big.

- You're a big, big boy but you're still going to be mommy's baby.

Okay, you're always my baby.

No matter how big you get.

- There is no such thing as a teacup pig or micropig, they're just babies.

And they are sold by these scam artists for thousands of dollars.

Sometimes to people who think, "oh little baby pig."

Its full grown, "I can't have him or her in my apartment."

No, its a lie, It's a scam.

It should be outlawed.

That's why we did Pig Little Eyes.

[music] [music] [music] [music] We urge everyone to please support these incredible women doing such amazing work to speak for poisonous animals and protect them.

You could donate to their nonprofits, Saving Animals and Healing Hearts and Tiny masters, via the website on your screen.

We did it.

We did it!

Micro pigs, mini-pigs, teacups.

They're all pigs that breeders sell way too early.

They will take a six week old pig and say, "oh, this pig is fully grown.

It won't grow that much more."

Also, they feed them the wrong feed.

They gave them food that stunts their growth, Actually, they physically stunt their growth.

So they stay small and they're tell people, "oh feed your pig this and that to keep them small" But what they're really doing is they're causing nothing but health issues and all the pigs that stay small.

It's so bad for them.

They're just basically malnourished and the effects.

It's...

It's horrible.

There are no micro or mini pigs they're non-existent.

- And there's so many different ways that they want them to say small.

Get the British rule say, well, "we can't guarantee their size unless you follow this feeding program" And we have a pig like that, that came in 23 years old and her body was tiny and really bad and her head was normal size and she has a club foot or her genetics are all messed up and its really a horrible thing.

It's just for greed for how much money they can get for them and they'll or they'll take the babies away.

Tiny, young, two weeks old.

This is a four-month-old baby and the people will get on the Facebook things to go.

"This baby is not eating.

I'll take it back to its mom."

It's not done.

So it happens all the time.

Potbelly pigs comes in various sizes.

So the smallest you can get on a pot-bellied pig is probably about 90 100 pounds but pot-bellied pigs can be up to 300 pounds.

I have a pig in the back.

It's owners told it was a teeny tiny teacup pig, little tiny cute little black Piggy and he's actually have to guinea hog which is a huge meat pig and have pot belly.

So he's big.

He's like 400 pounds and she like, "he's too big for my house" and he's too big a for anybody's house.

Selling them to people who want to put jewelry on them and clothes on them and say, "oh, this pig is gonna stay a micro pig."

It's a teacup, it's fits into your and then people take them home.

They do have them in one bedroom apartments because they figured, they can handle it and then that pig grows and grows and gets bigger.

And once it hits 120, 150 pounds, people realize, no, this is not what I signed up for and they either end up at the pound or they end up with rescue groups or invoice situations.

Oh, my gosh.

there's so many reasons they want to get rid of their pigs.

We hear everything from he was supposed to be a tiny pig.

Or I thought having I was just like having a dog, my dog doesn't like them.

I had one lady not too long ago that she got the puppy and the pig at the same time and she said the pigs out ago and I said, why is the pig have to go?

They've been here same round time.

Why is it the pig?

That was a good question.

They see them as more dispensable.

I think than they do a dog and I think it's probably just traditional, I get calls every day from people trying to relinquish their pigs, literally every single day.

All of these pigs are within America.

They we have a huge problem here and there all over the United States everywhere and it's it's impossible to change it without some kind of legislative law to stop to stop the inbreeding to stop the backyard breeding.

So kind of like puppy mills.

It's the same kind of thing.

[music] You know, if somebody still wants a pig after all that.

Telling me that has to be a 20 or commitment, these pigs live, 20 and older if they're well cared for and it is a commitment that you need to be willing to make not oh gosh, I didn't know I was going to move next year and then you don't need the pig with you.

This is, this has to be part of your family.

I'm like I said, they're like a three-year-old child and you should treat them that way and just know, You're getting yourself into, you have a Perpetual toddler for 20 years.

Wild female pig live in what they call sounders and they're normally contrived of like one or two females and all the babies and one male.

So there's adult females babies and one male, and then as they grow older, the male's will split off and actually have a bachelor group.

They will live together until they find their own female and then start leading and start their own little group.

But they are very social animals.

They are prey animals.

So, there's strength in numbers, right?

If a predator, if a query comes up or whatever, having a group and, you know, they protect each other.

A lot of people want pot-bellied pigs for an inside pet and some actually will stay that way.

They're all had different personalities, some pigs by the time they get about 1 or 2 years of like, I want to be outside.

I want to I want to be the dig in the dirt.

I want to, you know, be a pig, they're hurt animal.

So they need their own kind as well and as they start getting older then they start looking for something a little more they want that relationship with somebody.

They can talk to the understand each other.

The challenges we have in the sanctuary is and that we are all volunteer based.

We don't have any paid employees.

All of our donations come from outside individual donors.

We don't have sponsors, we don't have anything.

We're not a very big sanctuary, we just do a lot of work, so that's a huge challenge for us, is getting donations in.

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