My pets rescued Melanie Moreau
Has rescued hundreds of pigs – but since her marriage crumbled, she believes they’ve rescued her right back…
Watching them all interact, each with their own personalities, I felt a sense of pride. Not only had we helped to rescue these deserving animals, but in turn, they’d also rescued me. Pigs may not be everyone’s cup of tea – but to me they are bright, intelligent, thoughtful creatures who have so much to give, and it was pure luck that I’d discovered the brilliance of them by a complete accident…
It’d all started back in 2014 and for months I’d been feeling like we’d outgrown the town we were living in.
‘I think we should move to the country,’ I’d told my husband, Tim. We’d been living in Wylie, Texas, for 10 years but it no longer felt like home. I wanted to raise our kids – AnnaLaura, then 16, and Billy, 14 – away from bright lights and technology.
‘They need to see more nature,’ I said. Thankfully, Tim agreed. ‘Let’s do it, then!’ he said enthusiastically.
In May 2015, we moved into a smaller home on eight acres of land in the middle of nowhere and laid down new roots – for me, it was a dream come true.
We bought chickens for fresh eggs, a couple of goats and a horse. As a supply chain consultant, I was able to work from home and we enjoyed the peace and quiet. The kids loved constantly being outdoors, too.
Then, one day, three wild pigs showed up at our gate.
I’d never seen wild pigs before and I was terrified.
‘Go away!’ I shouted, trying to shoo them away from a distance. ‘Go home!’
Eventually, they left, but afterwards I felt incredibly guilty – I should have helped them. I got to thinking… how difficult would it be to keep pigs? Not rear them to eat, but give them a home.
So, I answered a Facebook ad for two three-week-old teacup pigs for sale.
I built a pen for them and called the adorable grey and white piggies Pearl and Piglet.
They were loving and sweet, but what I didn’t know was that I was feeding them the wrong things – bread and milk wasn’t a proper diet for a young sow.
Sadly, Piglet died and I was heartbroken – we all were – but I was undeterred.
I did some research on how to look after pigs and saw that I had done everything wrong.
With my newfound knowledge, in January 2016, I adopted a pig called Buddy so that Pearl would have a friend. A few months later, Pearl disappeared and we found her in labour across the street in a pasture.
I helped deliver her six piglets in my bedroom and although it was a trainwreck, everything turned out well – except for one poor piggy, who was stillborn.
For months I learned about how to properly raise pigs – they became a bit of an obsession. Through networking in the community, I learned that there were so many unwanted pigs who needed homes.