Tatamagouche Fire Department rescues Pourquoi the Pig

Pourquoi, a 200-pound Vietnamese pot-bellied pig, was probably wondering why his garage flooded on Saturday, and whether he would make it out alive. 

"[The water] was up to his chin," said owner Hanna Hunziker of Brule, a small community in Colchester County in Nova Scotia.

"He would have drowned."

Hunziker called firefighters to help rescue her beloved pig, who lives in a detached garage on her property. The garage was flooded with snowmelt which had created a river on Hunziker's property, in part because of how the road and driveway had been plowed. 

Firefighters from the Tatamagouche Fire Department responded, got a rope around Pourquoi and pulled the pig out of the garage.

But the ordeal wasn't over yet. Pourquoi had to be moved through the water surrounding the garage, and climb a six-foot snowbank to get to dry land.

A lot of squealing

Firefighter Mark Langille took the call and helped out at the scene.

"It wasn't easy for anybody," he said.

Langille says the distance between the house and the garage is about 140 metres, and Pourquoi was not exactly a willing participant.

"He didn't want to go. He did a lot of squealing," said Langille.

He said Hunzikar cautioned the firefighters that Pourquoi might bite them, but he didn't.

Hunziker said she felt helpless about the ordeal. She said her husband died last year and this is her first winter alone. She is also recovering from surgery, and isn't back to 100 per cent strength.

An excavator came by on Sunday and dug a trench, allowing the water on the property to drain properly.

The water also came within a few feet of Hunziker's house. She said if it had been warmer yesterday or had rained, she would have had to leave the house along with her pets.

Pourquoi normally lives in the garage because Hunziker also has a dog, and the two need to be separated. 

For now, Pourquoi is back in the house, but in a separate room from the dog. Pourquoi is now probably saying "Merci."