This little piggy is scrambling no more

A long-standing farming tradition has come to an end in New Brunswick. 

After complaints from an animal activist, the Westmorland County Fair in Petitcodiac has decided to discontinue its pig scramble. 

"It makes me very sad," said county fair president Lee Burgess. "Most people in the country understand it all, and people who aren't familiar with the farms and how things work, they see it differently." 

• Pig scramble game 'outrageous,' says animal rights advocate

In a traditional pig scramble, children, most of them from farms, chase and catch piglets inside a corral, while fairgoers watch. Afterward, the children take the animals home to raise. 

The New Brunswick SPCA has said it is dealing with more significant problems of animal abuse in New Brunswick than a pig scramble.

But some animal activists called the pig scramble outdated and cruel because it forces pigs to exert themselves for the entertainment of people.

A squeal doesn't mean pain

"They don't really understand it," said Burgess, who has been farming for more than six decades.

"They see a pig squeal, and think it's in pain, but you can't touch a pig without it squealing. That's what they do." 

Board members voted 7–1 to end the event, with many saying they simply wanted to end bad publicity for the fair.

The Westmorland fair was the last in the province to hold a pig scramble.

"I don't support the pig scramble, myself," said Teri McMackin, the liaison for the Village of Petitcodiac. "But in the interest of the fair I think we could still have an event with pigs and kids, like having the pigs in a pen and the kids have to entice the pigs over with food, or something like that instead." 

Burgess said cancelling the event will further deepen the gap of misunderstandings that surround farming practices. 

"I wish people better understood how the farm animals work, and how they work with the kids," she said. "But my biggest problem is how am I going to tell 40, 50 kids that we're not going to have it."