Although it was quite the rare occurrence, these pigs weren’t flying: rather, they were found wandering about the grounds of South Jersey, rooting for food and making noise on the loose for nearly a month, officials said.
Mount Laurel police and local animal control officials finally corralled the pigs and their piglets on Friday after the noisy pack was observed freely roaming Burlington County in Lumberton, Hainesport and Mount Laurel. The group was even spotted barreling through a local airport strip, a brewery and in expensive residential neighborhoods.
To lure the animals on the loose into a transport trailer, police used special pig grain pellets -- but even so, experts noted the capture wasn’t easy.
“One thing about pigs [is] a lot of people think that they are lazy,” Liz Vetrano, a nursing supervisor in the exotics department at Mount Laurel Animal Hospital, told NBC10. “They are extremely strong, extremely fast, and they really despise being restrained in any sort of way so - it was quite an adventure.”
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Vetrano said the animal hospital doesn’t know where the pigs came from but can confirm that they are a domesticated species.
Since the pigs haven't been claimed by an owner, they’ll all be spayed or neutered and placed for adoption.
The pack’s patriarch, Big Papa, is set to go to a non-profit called Rancho Relaxo. Others from the family are heading for Ross Mill in Jamison, Pa.
Animal Stories
“[They’re] going to homes, rescue farms that take on farm animals that can live their lives out there,” Vetrano said.
