A Good News Story…
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Having just read a few sad stories on the forum, I thought I would share a good news story and video clips to lift the spirits…Hope I’m not tempting fate here!
Last autumn I took a large male hog to be treated for a severe case of lung worm, sadly he didn’t make it, but I was given a replacement one to re-home by the carer named Pumpkin. Pumpkin was a male autumn juvenile and was so small and in such ill health when found that he was not expected to make it. With no sightings of our only female hog for several months I would have preferred a little lady, but I certainly wasn’t going to argue. Pumpkin was very close to the carers heart and I felt a huge sense of responsibility in ensuring that he made it safely through to the following spring. He certainly liked his food and visited almost every night until the first week of January when he disappeared…off to hibernate I assumed. Just over a month later he returned, but it was clear from the video footage that something was wrong, he had lost nearly all his fur. I captured him the following evening and clumps of spines were missing too, many falling to the floor as I handled him. Despite this, he was completely unfazed by his confinement and carried on munching his kitten biscuits throughout the entire journey to the carers. On arrival it was discovered that he was in fact a she! The carers took some convincing that this was in fact Pumpkin, but with the remnants of blue paint still on his… err her bottom and the fact that she looked nothing like our usual visitors, there was absolutely no doubt. Thankfully she responded very well to the treatment and I collected her a few weeks later looking a picture of health.
The boys pursued her relentlessly, but unperturbed she still visited for dinner every night without fail until around six weeks ago when she went missing for a week. When she returned she showed all the signs that there may be some hoglets hidden away somewhere. Quick dashes to the feeding station during daylight hours, rarely captured on video during the night and certainly no time for the boys! With no new hoglets spotted in the garden for over three years, I didn’t want to get my hopes up, but just over a week ago the cutest little bundle of prickles turned up for dinner on the doorstep. I’m not sure how many there are yet, but there is no doubt that they belong to Pumpkin, they have already mastered the art of removing the saucers to get to their dinner…oh yes and camera sabotage!
Now that her offspring have left the nest the boys are once again in hot pursuit…a second litter maybe…:-)
Hi,
So pleased to hear a good news story. I needed it. I have been feeling very in the doldrums about the little babies not surviving here.
I absolutely love the footage
More please!!!
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