SCHWEINCHEN .... the German word for piglet

A few days ago I received a very touching email of a Lady who helped me out big times last December. But the whole story actually started in February 2014.

Once upon a time .... last February, a friend left an unusual gift at our place. Well, it turned out that it was a small black piglet. Somebody got it from someone and at a mart it landed in another car boot before being thrown into my friends boot. She could not give him a home, but remembered that
at some stage, I must have mentioned that I would like a pig.

'Schweinchen'

 Nothing wrong with it, but my husband totally disagreed from the beginning. Normally he wouldn't mind any animal, as long as I looked after them, but from day one he made clear that 'Schweinchen' wasn't welcome. "Das Schwein muss weg" ( the pig has to go ).... was that sentence I woke up to and went to bed with. When he was young his parents used to farm as well and also kept some pigs. His work for many years was to manure out the pig shed.... but maybe other reasons played its part as well.
Anyhow, the piglet had obviously suffered some trauma, because it behaved beyond mad. No one could touch him ... he barked and charged at anybody and anything, when getting close. It was frustrating and I had little hope that he might change his attitude  ... but after a few days, while feeding him, I could feel that for the first time he had lost his nervousness. Soon I was able to ruffle his neck and from now on I never looked back.

the first little scratch

I suppose we both got very attached to each other over the following months.
Soon he started following me around, watching me how I interacted with the other animals. He also tried to make friends with most of our creatures, but the Ponies, the goats and for sure my hubby expressed clear signs that they wont be friends. So Schweinchen decided to become my third dog. Especially Lucy, our Spaniel cross didn't mind him really and he followed her around. We went for walks together and afterwards, to receive a treat, he soon started to sit down, waiting for a 'goodie'.

my third dog :)

can we have our treat now ....

come on Lucy, lets play 

The children were also fond of this little creature ... but as time went on, my husband still wouldn't make friends with him and kept clearly insisting, that the pig has to go. The boys teased him in their cheeky way saying statements like: "Dad, pigs are the the 5th most intelligent creature on earth. So maybe you are afraid that he challenges your intelligence .... ." In the meantime Schweinchen kept growing and learning new tricks or just went for walks on his own, when I wasn't there. It was hard to keep him enclosed, as he always found a way out. Sometimes my neighbors would ring and tell me that the piggy just passed their kitchen window.
During the world-cup he developed his love for football and was keen on pushing, kicking and dribbling any ball over the yard.

Schweinchen in world-cup fever .... he was up for Argentina, just to annoy the master 

So during the summer I started to promote Schweinchen. I didn't just want him to go to any home or a place where he might end up in the pot. I got a little facebook campaign started and involved some of the animal shelters. People came visiting, looked at him, but most people just left again, as he didn't fit into their imagination. Some were sure, that the pictures of the pig and the real pig didn't match, others thought he was to big and still growing anyway.
He surely also developed his sexuality and therefore discovered a large blue square water-drum. Whenever he felt like it, he pushed the drum around and finally loved 'her' to bits.

his true love

In my efforts to find a new home he nearly made it to the 'Mooney goes wild' RTE1 Radio show .... but then I got news from a friend, who's neighboring family would be interested. In fact they had a female potbelly pig, called Alice and they were wondering, if Alice would need a partner. Finally, the whole family arrived and as they had three young girls, they were wondering if Schweinchen had any aggressiveness in his nature. But Schweinchen behaved at his best, a bit shy and timid, but friendly.
We exchanged contact details and I was very happy with the visit. I didn't want to push Niamh and her family, but I assumed they were still interested. So I stopped promoting Schweinchen and I still didn't give up hope, that he might be here for another while.

last picture on Corsallagh soil

But then one winters morning in December, I got confirmation that he is going now to his new home.
It was more difficult then I could ever imagine to say good bye to him. After some effort we managed to put him into the trailer. The way he looked at me I will never forget. Those eyes asked me a thousand questions.... I just crawled his neck for one last time, feeling I betrayed him.... I was rather inconsolable ... and had to shed some tears by only thinking about him.

BUT, I kept in contact with the new owner and their family. Even though I m still hesitating to meet him again, I know now, that he is fine. Well, Alice still doesn't like him and I believe they had some mad fights, but he does his own thing anyway. Where ever he is locked in, he manages to get out ... and then goes visiting the neighbor. Therefor he has to climb a very steep hill  ( he is an awful fit pig anyway) to see my friend, who made the contact between Niamh and myself. She has also dogs and goats and interesting enough does speak a mixture of German and English to her animals - just like myself. He would hang out at her place and goes back home after a while.
Surely his name isn't Schweinchen anymore - he is called 'Sam', which is much easier to pronounce for their children.
I am really so thankful to all those kind people who take care of this special creature and allow him to be himself. I will visit him sometimes .... soon .... . But in the meantime I share a few pictures of SAM, the pig who doesn't like to be locked in

...still a dog ...

pretty boy

chilling in the sun

Watching whats going on around him

he is a big boy now :)

Animals often do give me lessons. Sam, alias Schweinchen made me think even more about how us people often treat their animal friends. Now, more then ever I would sign any law, which forbids mass production of any animal. All animals are scary intelligent, but after my encounter with 'a' pig, I know it is just so wrong. 

I am not a Vegeterian ( sorry ), but a real animal protection law would be the least we can do to treat them all in a kind of fair manner. 

We as consumers should have the power to change this around .... think about it and maybe leave a comment.