Sanctuary owners say too many people are falling for the 'mini pig' fad

Don't believe the ads you might see saying otherwise. There's no such thing as a miniature pig.

That's the message Lauren Edwards, owner of Charlotte's Freedom Farm in Chatham-Kent, wants people to hear. She says she's seeing a growing number of people dropping off family pets they thought would stay small, but in fact grew to be 100 pounds or more.

Edwards warns against buying pot-bellied pigs, or miniature pigs, as pets. 

"There is no such thing as a miniature pig," she said. "I think what people think they're going to get is these little pigs they see online that are 10- and 20-pound pigs running around the house. The reality is a full grown pot-bellied pig is going to be no smaller than 80 to 100 pounds. And often well over that."

Edwards is one of two local sanctuaries who take in former pet pigs, and both have posted to social media recently to say they're bursting at the seams. 

Runaway's Farm Sanctuary in Amherstburg, for example, says local sanctuaries take in "dozens of unwanted pigs that were previously kept as pets." 

"It's devastating for them to suddenly leave the comfort of a family home and be dropped off at a sanctuary," the sanctuary said in a social media post. 

"It's confusing and sad, and many potbellies become depressed. But this is the reality of pet pig breeding; most are re-homed at least once before the age of two."

Pigs aren't house pets, the sanctuary said. And while pigs may like dogs, it's a dangerous position for both animals.

Pigs need a house of their own

"They require lots of space to wander and root, activity and enrichment, and in most cases, a safe, pig-proof, all-weather house of their own," the sanctuary said in the post. "Most importantly, they do best with another piggy companion to bond with. In fact, it's a rare family that's actually equipped to properly provide these wonderful animals with what they need to thrive."

Edwards blames the Internet. She said people are intrigued by what they see online about the miniature pig fad, but don't do any research. For example, she said, pigs grow for five years. Edwards said they can have babies at five months, even as they are still growing.

"They see them online and they're so cute and small," Edwards said. "People will say online, look, mom and dad are so small. The reality is they haven't stopped growing. When they come into the house when they're a few months old, they start ripping up the carpets and the baseboards. They're bored and they realize they don't make a good house pet." 

Edwards says 90 per cent of the pigs her sanctuary sees are from owners that want to re-home the pigs in the first year of their lives. Currently Edwards has over 25 pigs at Charlotte's Freedom Farm.

An ongoing problem

Unfortunately, the story isn't new. 

On July 27, 2017, Windsor-Essex County Humane Society executive director Melanie Coulter said the society had received 18 pot-bellied pigs, prompting a public plea calling for people to stop keeping the animals as pets.

It's a warning Coulter echoes, explaining that the difference between a pot-bellied pig and their teacup cousins can be a big one.

"The fact that they're so cute is a problem because people get them and have this mistaken idea they're teacup pigs and are going to stay that tiny," Coulter said.

"But they grow really, really large."