Hanging with caregivers outside of the pig barn.
Meeting a steer is pretty frightening.
ears in the air; Sebastian flying through the pasture.
That nose still looks exactly the same
Baby Sebastian on his first day with new friends.
Awe spring is in the air.
Plowing through the early morning snow. There has to be dirt to root out here somewhere.
Grass lover
The love of his life Jane- in one of the many sleep poses. This is the spoon.
The nose knows- and this little pink nose can find anything.
Sebastian: The Bad Boy of the Barn
If you were to ask all the caregivers at our New York Shelter about Sebastian pig, you would probably hear many different opinions
— some similar, and some very different. Because, like all animals, Sebastian is an individual and his relationship with each person is unique.
His history: As a baby (a very lucky baby!), Sebastian walked off a heritage pig farm where hundreds of pigs were being raised for slaughter, and ended up at a Farm Sanctuary member’s home, hiding under her porch. That is a very lucky little piglet.
Then-Placement Coordinator Colin Henstock picking up Sebastian with his rescuer!
He then was moved to our New York Shelter, where he was loved and spoiled like every baby pig who comes to any of our facilities. And like all pigs, he was smart and had a very unique personality.
I found an apple!
He learned his name in a day and came when called, and he loved all the attention that he was given by everyone he met.
Good morning! Sebastian popping out of bed.
He was always a silly baby who played with sticks and dug enormous holes that we filled with water to make mud for him — and, after hours of outdoor play, he would snuggle up for some attention. He was a bit nippy, but most pigs thankfully grow out of that.
Always carrying a stick or a rock in his mouth, Sebastian checks out his new grassy yard.
His pal Natalie Boydston greets a very muddy little Sebastian piglet.
We tried Sebastian in the main pig herd, but he was so frightened he jumped out of the feed area to get away from the larger pigs.
The after-play snuggle session.
We then introduced him to two pigs closer to his own age, and his entire life changed.
Jane, Eric, and Sebastian: day one.
He chose Jane to be his best friend, and with her by his side, he joined the main herd. Eric also lived with them, but ended up not being a good fit with a large herd. (Pigs are very complex.)
When he first met Jane.
As he grew older, Sebastian became more assertive than some of our other, more docile pig residents — perhaps because some of the older pigs had kicked Eric out from his little group; maybe because he was so scared when he was little, but then realized that he was no longer a pushover. Likely it is just who he is. Whatever the reason, he does not shy away from a battle with another pig, especially a new pig, and usually instigates these disagreements.
A more serious look.
Sebastian is also known for the occasional bite/nip with people. He definitely has some personal-space issues, which he deals with the way you would deal with it if you were a pig. He barks, or instead just gives you a physical cue that you are in the way or that he doesn’t want you to do something. This is his bad-boy side.
“I dug this hole for you. Seriously.”
A few years ago, he developed a huge abscess in his throat, which pushed into his esophagus and caused a condition much like mega-esophagus. With this condition, the muscles of the esophagus fail and cannot propel food into the stomach. This causes undigested food to sit in the esophagus and chest cavity rather than moving on to the stomach. Doctors felt that the abscess had caused damage to the esophagus and that it would be a permanent condition.
A little mealtime modification was all Sebastian needed to be able to eat with his esophageal condition.
Because of this condition, Sebastian would regurgitate his feed immediately after eating and was always nauseous. Just like the treatment for dogs with mega-esophagus, Sebastian needed to eat on an incline, so that is what we did. Our maintenance team (Mario Ramirez and company) built a set of steps, and our boy quickly learned to climb up to the top to eat.
Cruising the chamomile.
Unlike most dogs with mega-esophagus, Sebastian recovered and no longer needed the steps to eat. He still jumps up for food, however, and makes sure you know that he has feed needs.
Sebastian would like you to know that he’s hungry.
He is still a clown, and always the first out to the feed area and the first to start the screaming. He just wants to ensure that you are also aware that it is time to eat.
And he is loyal to his girl Jane; they are together every single day, and most of the hours during those days. He is super-protective of her, and vice versa. They are a power couple in the pig barn.
One of the many poses of Sebastian and Jane. They lie out on the cool concrete together in the summer, either nose-to-nose, bum-to-bum, or feet-to-feet.
He is also loyal to some of the people in his world as well, and thankfully, one of them is me. I have known him since the day he arrived, and our relationship has always been strong.
Our relationship started when he was just a wee little one and has always been good. Pigs recognize when you love them, and in most cases, they give that love back.
The most touching thing that happened with Sebastian and me was just about a year ago, when we were filming an interview and I was talking about how I came to work with animals. The interview was taking place in the pig barn full of sleeping pigs. When discussing a dark period of my life I began to cry, and Sebastian got up out of bed, walked over to where I was sitting on the floor, and laid down beside me: the support I needed to continue. The clear empathy he showed touched me more than I can say.
This guy loves pumpkin.
So does it bother us that Sebastian has a dark side? Not really. Because just like people, like all other beings, Sebastian is Sebastian — love him or leave him. And we all really prefer loving him!
Talking with his mouth full — not surprising.
His good outweighs his grumpy, and he has shown compassion, empathy, and kindness. He enjoys a good belly rub and loves to go on walks with you in the pasture.
So the bad boy of the pig barn has a very soft side — like most bad boys. And thankfully, Sebastian lives at Farm Sanctuary, where his uniqueness is appreciated.
Like Sebastian, every pig is an individual, with the capacity for empathy and the desire to form loving relationships with others. Read more stories of the pigs who call Farm Sanctuary home and learn more in “Thinking Pigs: Cognition, Emotion, and Personality,” the new white paper from The Someone Project, a joint undertaking by the Kimmela Center for Animal Advocacy and Farm Sanctuary to compile, review, and publish scientific evidence for cognitive and emotional complexity in farm animals and to support promising research in these areas.
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