Two piglets were taken from a Brush Prairie farm over the weekend. One of which was returned safely, but the other was found dead, according to the farm’s owners.
Bill Zimmerman said that he arrived at his farm, Bi-Zi Farms at 9504 N.E. 119th St., Sunday morning and found a bin of apples had been pushed over in the yard, a bench thrown into an animal pen and straw bales thrown around.
Zimmerman said that when the farm, which runs a pumpkin patch and corn maze, closed at 10 p.m. Saturday, nothing was amiss. He didn’t think the damage to the property was too awful until an employee found a pair of 2-week-old pigs missing. A third piglet and the mother were alone in the pen.
The hog and the three piglets, all American Guinea hog, had been borrowed from the NW Love All Animal Rescue for a petting zoo, which also helps out the nonprofit by advertising the animals as up for adoption.
Zimmerman and his family looked everywhere for the little black pigs, but couldn’t find them. He said he didn’t call police because he didn’t think it would result in anything, but his daughter did post about the missing baby animals on Facebook.
Within about two hours, a family in Battle Ground responded that they had found one of the piglets.
“They had found the baby pig under their car and took it into their house to get it warm,” Zimmerman said. “It was very heartwarming. When they brought the first pig back and got within about 3 feet of fence, the mother knew. … She lay down right away to nurse.”
A couple of hours later, another Battle Ground resident reached out to the farm owners, but this time with bad news. The second baby pig was found dead.
Zimmerman said he thinks that whoever stole the pigs likely dropped them off near the Battle Ground Wal-Mart, because the pigs were found in that vicinity. Zimmerman said he believes the dead piglet likely died of hypothermia.
“At that age, the pigs rely on the mom for warmth,” Zimmerman said. “Out in the open, they have nothing. They were exposed to the elements.”
Tracy Nichols, founder and president of NW Love All Animal Rescue, said she regularly loans out animals to both give back to the community and help with adoptions. She said just three days prior to hearing the bad news, the group had named the male piglets Larry, Curly and Moe. Moe, she said, is the one who died.
“I’m just disappointed,” Nichols said. “It’s very upsetting when there are people who can do something like that and can ruin it for everyone.”
She said she doesn’t blame Zimmerman. She knows that he does a good job keeping the animals safe and said that she has had pigs stolen from her property in the past, too.
Zimmerman said he feels bad about what happened.
“We realize a lot of these animals will be raised for meat, but I don’t like to see them mistreated,” Zimmerman said. “It’s heartbreaking for me to hear this little pig was treated this way. This little pig was completely defenseless.”
