VIDEO: Farmer saves starving Kune Kune piglets dumped on side of road (From Bournemouth Echo)

VIDEO: Farmer saves starving Kune Kune piglets dumped on side of road

8:48am Thursday 14th March 2013 in News

VIDEO: Farmer saves sick Kune Kune piglets dumped on side of road

TWO starving Kune Kune piglets have been rescued after being dumped along an isolated country road.

Tenant farmer Shelley Sanders, of Race Farm, Lytchett Matravers, was shocked at the state of the piglets when she took them in.

“Both were really thin and had bad diarrhoea. They’d obviously not been fed properly for a while,” she said.

Mrs Sanders has since dubbed the duo Margo and Jerry, after characters from television’s iconic 70s sitcom The Good Life.

One of the piglets exhibits some unusual behaviour, by sitting like a dog when it’s feeding time.

Mrs Sanders said: “I don’t know how she’s managed to figure it out but she sits every time I put food in front of her. Maybe somebody has taught her to do this?

“They also have no ear tags, which is a requirement in farming. Maybe someone bought them as pets? However, pigs don’t make good pets, especially these ones as they can grow quite big.

“They are extremely friendly which makes me think they’ve been in close contact with humans.”

The piglets, a male and a female, were discovered running freely along Huntick Road last Sunday.

“We had a knock on the door and this guy asked us if we’d lost any pigs,” explained Mrs Sanders. “We’re not keeping any pigs at the moment though, so I said they couldn’t be ours.

“They were hurtling down the road and when I managed to pick up the sow I couldn’t believe how tiny this was.”

Mrs Sanders is eager to trace the piglets’ owners, especially because they haven’t been tagged. Animal movements need to be monitored in the battle against diseases such as foot and mouth.

The pigs are now being looked after at Race Farm until their óowners can be traced.