Road hog: This little piggy caused a traffic jam

A piglet’s big city adventure disrupted traffic on a busy Palmerston North road.

Katrina Parker felt annoyed as she pulled up to a traffic jam, already three or four cars deep, on Napier Rd near Roberts Line, about 3pm on Friday.

When Parker tried to spot what the hold-up was she was bemused to see a group of men running in circles on the road. Then she saw a flash of pink, near the ground - a piglet.

‘‘Three grown men chased and tried to catch the little piggy. It was hilarious.’’

The men tried to encircle the twinkle-toed trotter as it slipped from their grasp time and again. Then, finally, two of them cornered the piglet.

‘‘The first guy missed it. Then a second guy chased it for 30 seconds or so, and grabbed it and put it in the back of his ute and drove away.’’

He didn’t have far to go, the Palmerston North SPCA was just around the corner.

Manawatu SPCA general manager Danny Auger said the piglet was now with a foster carer, who would look after it until the owner was found.

‘‘It’s going to be under a lot of stress. It would’ve been very frightened in a very unfamiliar environment, that’s why we don’t keep these kinds of animals at the shelter.’’

Auger said the piglet would recover quickly now that it was in a quieter, calmer environment.

The SPCA has dealt with a lot of escaped animals over the years, he said.

It’s not uncommon for lambs and calves to escape into the streets in spring, especially when a school is having a lamb and calf day.

‘‘And we’ve had a lot of goats. More goats than you would expect.they’re great escape artists.’’

But this was the first pig to escape into the streets while Auger’s been around.

‘‘It’s very rare to see an escaped pig in the city. Most pigs are kept on farms out in the country.

‘‘[But] the most likely explanation is that it’s escaped from someone’s property nearby.’’

Auger said there were quite a few lifestyle and rural blocks near Napier Rd.

If you know who the piglet belongs to you can contact the Palmerston North SPCA on 06 357 2516.