“Come on little piggie...in the crate you go, my sweet big boy...jump in the truck pup, we’re going Home!”

These moments are often the closest I come to inter-species communication. As soon as I lay my hand on the back of a terrified pig that has never known life outside of a tiny, filthy shed, she relaxes. I can feel her thoughts with absolute certainly. Finally, finally someone is here who knows her, someone who will help, someone to get her Home. She has always known that this awful place should not - cannot be her home.

The once charging, biting boar settles in for his first scratch on that hard to reach part of his back. It is the first time he has felt a gentle touch but he had been waiting seven years. Always waiting for that place called Home – a place where there was nothing to defend or fear.

The ancient sow that has lived in one household for 16 years is loaded up and crated as her lifelong home is sold due to a family splitting up. Her grief will be great but she knows she is in good hands and that life will somehow begin again. She can feel it. Home is not a piece of ground, it is where the heart is. And her dear heart will be treasured where she is going.

The sow and piglets that have watched other babies die or be forever snatched away with harsh hands but now watch contentedly as they travel in their crates. Those awful days will never come again. Down this road lies their Home.

I don’t know how they know who I am or that I will take them Home but they always do. Somehow they know. But now we are full. We cannot offer the level of care that we have promised the others if we keep taking in more. And everyone we know is in the same boat.

So where does that leave us with so many looking for that safety and a Home? We cannot just tell them that there is no more room. We cannot just pass the queries onto another sanctuary where the answer will be the same “Sorry- we’re full”. We are well aware that we did not create the problem, that we are not ultimately responsible. But usually we are only Hope that they have. We cannot just give up on them and pass them along.

We operate on the principle that given the information, people will do the right thing. That people will step forward and help. In order to spread the word, we are using a donation in memory of a beloved horse named Natchez to start an online newsletter for the purpose of helping find Homes for unwanted farm animals in Virginia and neighboring areas.

Our goal is to develop a network of caring people who will do what they can to help--be it transport, foster care, donations for spays/neuters, spread the word, or just send goodwill and words of encouragement. This model has proven very effective in Tennessee and we see no reason why it cannot work here.

That combined with sponsorships of existing sanctuary pigs and those that are not suitable for placement will create the safety net to save each and every lost soul that so desperately needs our assistance. Please join us in this worthwhile endeavor.

If you have a pig or other farm animal that is desperate in need of a home, please contact us. The chances of your animal finding a real Home without the assistance of experienced rescue people are very slim. If you can afford to sponsor your animal on a long term basis, there are affordable facilities here in Virginia. But we will never let money stand in the way of saving an animal whose life hangs in the balance. We are here to help.

Title Photo: Because all the sanctuaries were already full, these two Virginia pigs never found a home.

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