Little man Joey came to us on 18th September 2023. He was one of 7 pigs that we rescued that day. It was a very complicated and stressful rescue and took hours to get them all onto trailers.

Joey was severely disabled, about 8 years old and he was gorgeous. Like all the pigs that come to us, we fell in love with him straight away. He was due, along with his mum, dad, brothers and sisters to be destroyed, but we had other ideas for him and his family.

The other pigs went to safe places to be fostered or to their forever homes. (We took 3 of his family to Scotland to the Maggie Flemming sanctuary (where they still live happily), after they went to Thomasin sanctuary and then we fostered them for a while) and while others thought that Joey should not be able to continue living, we wanted to give him a chance and we had nearly a year with him when he finally passed away on 6th August 2024 of leukaemia.

Joey was amazing and a real fighter. He loved eating (as all pigs do) and he loved basking in the sun which was his favourite thing to do. He loved his cuddles and was very vocal.

He was the only pig that could climb on the sofa in the main barn despite his disability and he encouraged the others to do the same. Since his death, the other pigs have not ventured on the sofa again.

We were supplied with a wheelchair for him from Pumpkin Patch and he used to scoot about in that in the back yard. In his last weeks, he was so weak that Aaron had to hold him up while he ate his food, but one day he told us he had had enough and was tired.

We loved him so much and the day he passed away, we were heart broken. He was 9 years old and we put him in the sun by the pond and he slipped away peacefully and with so much love. He will take all that love with him and pass it to those who didn’t have it in this life.

We will always love you Little Man Joey.