Piggy-Sue wallows in freedom

KENT BLECHYNDEN

FIT AND HAPPY: Piggy-Sue with owner Carolyn Press-McKenzie. "She wags her tail all the time."

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She could have been the glazed centrepiece of someone's Christmas feast – but instead Piggy-Sue enjoyed her own very merry Christmas wallowing in the mud in Upper Hutt.

The sow – a large white – was sprung from the Reid piggery in Carterton in May during undercover filming for TVNZ's Sunday programme, which revealed disturbing images of intensive pig farming.

She now lives at Huha Animal Sanctuary in Kaitoke, run by Carolyn Press-McKenzie, who bought Piggy-Sue as part of the programme.

The change in Piggy-Sue in the past seven months has been "the difference between day and night", Mrs Press-McKenzie says.

"Before she was just existing – now she's living."

Among the many new experiences for Piggy-Sue, who had never been outside before her rescue, has been Wellington's changeable weather.

Mrs Press-McKenzie was concerned that she might not cope with Kaitoke's cold winters, but instead she turned up her snout at attempts to keep her cosy.

"We made her this amazing shelter filled with straw that was all snuggly and warm, but she'd go and stand out in the snow.

"She'd spend hours out there, just frolicking in the snow. It was gorgeous to watch."

Along with a coat of bristly hair and a slightly grubbier appearance, Piggy-Sue has also gained a best friend – a kunekune-large white cross called Herbie.

"They're really cute – they spoon at night," says Mrs Press-McKenzie, who stayed at the sanctuary over Christmas, taking special care that Piggy-Sue and the other pigs did not get sunburnt.

As well as having sunscreen rubbed on her, Piggy-Sue will be given plenty of water to drink during the summer months and will be able to cool off in a special mud wallow.

Mrs Press-McKenzie is proud of her part in Piggy-Sue's rescue and thrilled with how the pig has taken to her new life. "She wags her tail all the time."

- © Fairfax NZ News