Eight pigs were due to be slaughtered on Tuesday. A sanctuary said yes, and 330 donations covered the feed bill.
Twenty pigs got loose on the A127 near Basildon; five were shot, eight more were booked in for slaughter, and an Essex sanctuary took them in once 330 donations covered the feed bill.
Twenty pigs got loose on the A127 at Dunton, near Basildon, on Sunday 18 October. Motorists filmed them darting between cars, and the road was closed for hours. 12
Firearms officers from Essex Police shot five of them at the scene, for the safety of road users. The force said the decision "was not taken lightly". 1
Tower Hill Stables, an animal sanctuary at Asheldham on the Dengie peninsula, later took in the survivors. Its own account of that afternoon: the five were proving difficult to catch, and there was pressure to reopen the road. 3
Eight were herded onto a trailer and taken to a holding pen, on the understanding that homes would be found for them. 2
One more got into somebody's garden and stayed there. 3
"It was also due to be shot, but the people whose garden it got into weren't too keen on that," Martin Morgan said. 2
"We managed to get the little pig into the van and thought that was the end of it," Morgan said. 2
He runs the sanctuary with its founder, Fiona Oakes.
That was the easy part.
Eight pigs, and a date
The eight in the holding pen were meant to move on to new homes. The rehoming fell through. 3
They were booked in for slaughter on Tuesday 27 October. 3
Morgan had to decide whether the sanctuary could take them at all. 2
"I didn't sleep the night we were told about it because I did not think we could fit them in - like most sanctuaries, we are struggling," he said. 2
What a yes costs
Oakes started Tower Hill Stables after one of her horses was badly hurt in an accident she blames on a stable owner's negligence. 4
"I had always rescued animals in a small and simple way," she wrote. 4
"We sold everything we possessed of any value, and somehow we did it," Oakes wrote of buying the land. 4
The injured horse, Oscar, moved in the day after Oakes and Morgan did, in December 1996, and lived another four years. 4
The sanctuary now cares for more than 400 animals across five properties: retired racehorses, ex-fighting dogs, neglected and abused farm animals. 4
For the pigs from the A127, Asheldham is the end of the journey. The sanctuary's stated mission is a forever home for animals in need. 4
What the money is for
By this morning the fundraiser had reached £6,136 from 330 donations. I did the division: about £19 each. 3
The page asks for monthly gifts from £1 as much as for one-off sums. The pigs will be eating at Asheldham long after this fundraiser closes. 34
"Support continues to fall following the covid years and difficult economic situation," Oakes wrote. 3
The sanctuary has also bought in 350 large bales of hay for the winter, after last year's shortages and soaring prices.
It is asking people to pay for them bale by bale. 5
Where it stands
Tuesday passed, and the eight from the pen are alive. Morgan is taking them. 2
Males and females will be kept apart, and three of the pigs have already been reunited with what appears to be their mother. 2
"Introducing the pigs to other adult pigs is a nightmare," Morgan said. 2
That makes nine in all: the eight from the pen, and the one from the garden. 2
Of the twenty that got loose, five were shot on the road, and the BBC reported that the whereabouts of seven were unknown. 2
Eleven days on from the escape, it is still unclear where the twenty came from. 2
"I'm very grateful to everyone who has donated and continues to donate for the feed bills, because looking after 400 animals is a tall order," Morgan said. 2
The fundraiser for the pigs is Help the A127 Pigs. The sanctuary's winter hay appeal is 350 bales for winter.
References
- 1
- 2
- 3Help the A127 Pigs
gofundme.com
- 4About Us
towerhillstables.org
- 5Winter's Coming - Help Us Fill 350 Bales
towerhillstables.org
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