A very happy and content Rose pig with young Freston and Rory by her side.
Sweet-faced Rose finally feeling at home
Rose and her people, Ellen, Porcia, Honey, Chuck and Freston
A family in the snow
Rose greeting Nikki, who gave her the greatest gift of all
Rose and friend and also former gestation sow Honey
Rose’s first snow
The nose of Rose and pal Honey- out of the factory farm and able to root in the dirt!
Remembering Rose Pig, For Whom Moving Past Trauma Meant Embracing a New Family
Although Rose is no longer with us, she played a huge role in the way even I look at pigs. When I met Rose, I had been around and cared for hundreds of pigs, but never an industrial gestation sow from a massive factory operation.
Rose starving to death, but still trying to wake her babies. Her face showed such a deep sadness.
When we found Rose during the 2008 Iowa flood rescue, she had recently given
birth in an old, broken-down barn, but because she was starving, she was not producing milk and the babies
had all died. When our staff arrived at the scene, Rose was still attempting to
get the babies up – nudging them lightly with her nose. We had to use the babies to coax her into the trailer; she was clearly desperate.
The only babies she would ever have had the chance to keep had perished. This loss was even more tragic knowing that she had previously given birth to two litters per year of piglets whom she was never permitted be a mother to.
Rose was found with a group of gestation sows – many of whom the vet described as “spent” and said she could not believe were still being used for breeding. Seeing their broken-down bodies, we assumed that meant they were really old – but the vet felt that “they are at least three.” I had never seen pigs so broken-down and clearly so afraid.
Rose arrived with other gestation sows, likely survivors from the same farm. All were broken-down, flat-footed, sunburned, and exhausted.
Rose would not eat on her own, but instead would take the bowl of feed we had put in front of her, flip out the feed, and repeatedly rub her nose on the
bottom of the rubber bowl. This went on
for hours at a time, every day, while we were in Iowa.
Rose in the trailer on the way to the stockyard. Her eyes seemed empty.
We rented an empty stockyard to house the pigs in preparation for traveling back to our New York Shelter – getting them healthy and having the necessary health testing done to be able to legally transport them. I would allow Rose to walk around the stockyard with me while
I fed and watered the other pigs, since otherwise, she would spend all her time nosing her bowl. She
would stop and lie down in front of the pen of another pig, Nikki, who had arrived with live piglets, and stare at the babies, nosing
the wooden gate and attempting to get in with them. Nikki would sometimes come over and threaten
her, but most of the time Rose just watched.
Nikki arrives with her kids, just a few days old; mom had thankfully been saved before they too perished due to lack of milk. Nikki was barely producing.
The depression continued when we got back to Farm Sanctuary, and Rose at first
was not able to see Nikki or her babies, who were being housed inside because the
babies were so small.
In much better shape and cleaned up. Though her wounds healed during our time in Iowa, Rose still had not lost the blank stare.
Once Nikki’s babies were stronger, however, we moved them in with the other gestation sows. Nikki quickly established dominance over the entire group, but in the end she allowed some of them
to be around the babies.
Rose cowering against the wall, but making the greeting vocalization. She wanted to be around the babies, and Nikki seemed to understand that.
Nikki accepted two of the sows, Rose and Honey, into her family and
allowed these two mothers in particular to co-parent the babies and sleep all together in a big pig pile at night. Rose became bonded to two babies in particular, Rory and Freston, and spent most of her time with the tiny little
piglets.
Honey was so burned her skin was black when we found her, but thankfully she quickly healed and is the beautiful pig we all know and love today.
Pigs establish a hierarchy within the first 24 hours of life, and Rory and Freston were at the bottom or the pecking order. Rory was the tiniest piglet, and Freston was very sick from the time he was a baby, suffering
from septic arthritis which led to crippling leg issues within two years. They were both very bonded to Rose – especially Rory.
Tiny little baby Rory, the smallest piglet in the litter.
Rose seemed older than Nikki, and also seemed far more concerned with the safety of the babies. At night we do not lock in the pigs, since we
have no predators that would hurt them. But Rose would not come to bed until all the babies were in and secure.
Rose with Freston and Rory out on a stroll in the pasture. These two bonded with Rose as much as they did with their own mother.
When the piglets were about a year old, Chuck, the obvious leader of the siblings, kicked Rory out of the herd. She would be afraid to come in at night, and Rose would go out and sleep beside her; never leaving her alone.
Honey wtih Rose and silly young Rory.
When the relationship between Chuck and Rory became even more tumultuous, we decided to remove Rory from the small herd, and she and Rose moved into a separate area together.
A happier and more content Rose, finally able to live out life with a baby she had raised.
They were both so happy, and they stayed together until Rose passed a few years ago. But unlike the majority of pigs in the world, when she died it was clear that she did so having had years full of happiness, love, and family – something that more than 950 million pigs killed worldwide each year in industrial farming will never have.
Rose became more talkative and more engaged with humans, and never left Rory’s side. Her life had completely changed, and she was clearly very happy.
Rose was an individual, but her story illustrates truths
about all pigs, and about the industry that deprives them of their families on
an enormous scale. Like Rose, all pigs have the capacity and desire for
complex, loving relationships with each other. And like Nikki, all pigs have an
understanding of the perspective of others and are able to put their
observations into practice – in Nikki’s case, understanding Rose’s interest in
her babies and permitting her to get close to them. 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.
If you are moved by Rose’s story, please consider sharing it to help spread the word that pigs like her are each someone, not something. A compassionate world begins with you!
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