New Friends: Junip Sydney and Von D Piglets Meet at Farm Sanctuary!
We recently introduced you to Junip Sydney and Von D piglets, and just as we hoped, the two have become the very best of pig pals. Watch as they meet for the very first time, then learn about the social lives of our pig friends!
Petting zoos are the quintessential place where city-dwelling children interact with farm animals — and often the place where they meet them for the first time. At these places, children marvel at the novel animals (who are usually provided decent accommodations) and offer them treats.
Unfortunately, though, petting zoos are not always as innocent as they appear.
In the case of new Farm Sanctuary resident Junip Sydney, the community petting zoo at which she was born also operated as a small working farm. Its operators had leased a pregnant pig from a pig farm so that she could give birth at the petting zoo.
Junip’s mom gave birth to a litter of 14 piglets in mid-January. One of the babies was stillborn; Junip was the runt and wasn’t thriving. The competition for food among her brothers and sisters was fierce, and she was too small to get enough food for herself. Two of her other small siblings were also not doing well.
Within a week, the smaller piglets’ failure to thrive had become more apparent. The petting zoo sought out community members to take the piglets into their homes and foster them. At six weeks of age (if the piglets survived), the foster families were supposed to return them to the petting zoo, which would then in turn return them, along with their siblings, to the pig farm from which their mother had been leased.
When Junip Sydney was one week old, a collective of three extraordinary women and one of their daughters started fostering her. Junip’s life changed course dramatically when she met her foster moms, and it’s safe to say that theirs did too!
Little Junip when we first met her, in her foster home.
Never having met — let alone raised — a pig, Junip’s foster family was in for quite an education. Among the many things they soon learned:
Piglets are smart.
Piglets are curious.
Piglets are playful.
Piglets are cuddly and loving.
Piglets love being alive.
Piglets are strong.
Piglets grow big, and fast.
Although she wasn’t with her mother and was not surrounded by her brothers and sisters, Junip was one very loved piglet. She spent every night in a little girl’s bedroom, surrounded by stuffed animals. She was spoiled, and she was warm, safe, and well-fed. She had no idea of the potential horror awaiting her.
Thankfully, her guardians did — or at least they had some concept of it. At the pig farm Junip was set to be sent to at six weeks of age, all of the piglets would enter the standard pig-agricultural system. Sweet Junip would know the same fate of the more than 300 million other (also sweet) pigs who are killed annually in the United States each year. She would either be violently killed at six months of age for meat, or forced to become a breeding sow, confined to a small gestation or farrowing crate for years birthing litters and litters of piglets without any ability to naturally nurture and care for them — all to see them taken away again and again.
Junip’s foster moms, who had been unaware of this reality, were horrified to learn of it. They could not imagine one of these horrible fates befalling sweet, vulnerable Junip. Knowing that their time was limited, Junip’s foster moms mobilized and scrambled to find another solution for her — one that would allow her to live out the rest of her life in peace.
Although Junip was safe and comfortable in her foster moms’ homes for the time being, having her live out her life with them was not a viable solution for many reasons. To start with, they were not zoned to have a pig living on their premises. Skirting the law with a tiny piglet in their custody was one thing, but they would not be able to hide a full-grown farm pig weighing 600 pounds or more. Furthermore, living with a full-grown farm pig is much more complicated than living with a tiny 10-pound piglet. As it happens, farm pigs do not make great house pets. Their natural behavior of rooting is particularly destructive to landscaping, and they bore easily unless they are given a lot of space to play and roam free.
With time running out, Junip’s foster moms turned to us and asked if we could take her in at Farm Sanctuary. The petting zoo operator allowed them to surrender Junip to us without the exchange of money. Given that assurance, we were able to accept this sweet piglet at our Southern California Shelter.
Junip headed for her new home!
When we met Junip, she was all of one month old and 14 pounds — a bundle of pampered exuberance and energy. Veterinarians examined her to ensure that she was healthy and recommended that she be spayed immediately. (Our female pig residents are spayed for health reasons, to prevent future reproductive cancer.)
Junip’s spay surgery went well, and she is recovering beautifully from it at the Southern California Shelter. For the next month or so, we’ll keep careful watch of her to make sure the surgery site continues to heal well. During that period, her activity will be limited. Given her youth, health, and fighting willpower, we have every expectation that she will continue to recover well.
Junip at Farm Sanctuary. Before long, she’ll be able to run and play outside!
Junip is a bundle of pure joy! She loves to be around and with people, and we accommodate her as much as we possibly can. Like her puppy counterparts, she has bursts of energy and then instantly passes out completely. She is learning to understand the blissfulness of belly rubs, but she still does not yet fully understand them and, as such, does not readily submit to them (yet).
Sleepy Junip.
Our little Junip is extraordinary to us in that she loves to be held — a trait we attribute to her unique upbringing. How can we refuse this little one’s wants and desires? The answer is: We cannot!
Junip with her “humanimal” friends (clockwise from top left) Jessica, Danielle, Alicia, and Bo.
We know that this period of being able to hold her will pass quickly. Soon she will be too big for us to hold, and she won’t want us to (though we expect that she’ll still continue to plop down into our laps — or at least try — no matter how big she is).
Junip with her friend and caregiver Kerrie.
Once her recovery period is complete, Junip will be introduced to the great outdoors of the sanctuary. She will enjoy all of the natural behaviors of pigs — endless rooting and nest-building with her new best friends, whom she’ll meet once she’s a little bigger. We cannot wait to introduce Junip to everything wonderful in the world — everything we wish that every pig had the opportunity to enjoy.
Junip is one of the lucky ones, and we hope you’ll share her story. She is truly someone, not something. With your support, we can continue to promote farm-animal-friendly living through rescue, education, and advocacy efforts. A compassionate world begins with you!
Shelter Manager Alicia Pell introduces us to Junip Sydney piglet, a charming and adorable new resident of our Southern California Shelter! Junip Sydney was born at a petting zoo and taken in as a foster by a group of caring women when she failed to thrive in that environment. Rather than return her to the petting zoo, which would have turned her over to a farm where she would have been raised for meat, Junip Sydney’s human friends were able to get her released to sanctuary — and now, this sweet piglet is safe for life!
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