Pigs Ears

You see them in the pet stores every where now in the same place they sell pet pig food. Sold too dog people for there canine friends to chew on and yes they are real pigs ears. Last week an added chew box was filled with snouts , little pink baby pig noses looking up at me by the hundreds in a box. Pigs are slaughtered at 5-6 monthes so yes baby ears and baby noses. The public bought the pigs ears and accepted them so now they are testing the waters with snouts.

Have you ever looked at a pig picture and noticed the v notch cut outs in the ears? Pig farmers who claim they are a good bunch and treat the pigs well before they ship to slaughter.. The notches represent litters and vaccines and this is how they do it.


I bring this up because Scotch, one of our pot bellies has notches in his ears. He also had an ear tag, normally placed there when shipped across the state line after being in quarantine and suffering threw all there medical tests. He has a hole threw his ear now as we had the tag removed when he was neutered. Scotch is one of Jeans foster kids and he and i spent some time together under the crab apple tree today.

Scotch is everything magic and i told him he was a special pig as he has a deepness within him that comes from wisdom. One that when your eyes meet with his they touch your heart. He leans into you and genuinely loves you and he sings while you stroke his bristles much like a Mom pig does to her babies when feeding. Gentle oofs emerge in rhythm and i watch him give one of his sons a gesture you normally see a cat do, he leans over and rubs the little pig with his head in love.

After our time together, the bondng filled both of our hearts. I watched him a few minutes later spin and buck in happiness and this my friends is how all pigs should live and all it takes is love.

Always Half Full

I am sure my life is not so different from anyone else in regards to the curve balls life throws at you.

The fact that i bought a decent truck and spent too much money only a few years ago that needed a new engine and then a transmission shouldn't get me down. And the motor went on the third trip to the vets in North van with the last of ten babies born to two pigs i agreed to take from the SPCA. Two turns into twelve and then the pig left here by who knows was also met head on. The computer i bought used, was replaced with a new one and then sent in for repairs 6 months later to some one else and it still is not operating as it should. I bought a new heater for the turtle tank and even that had to be returned as it didn't work. Free bags of feed met with open arms ended up at the dump all rotten didn't discourage me either. Applying for a grant, that was a complete waste of time, and the funds to mail it. As it was denied. Having an offer on the house and fear of moving and where, was enough to give me a heart attack but i am still here. The deal falling threw while i was out looking at new properties didn't turn me into a mound of mush nor did it send me into tears. The car wash fundraiser that was re booked because of miscommunication at the shop was to happen this Saturday was cancelled by someone. ( ??) I just found out after calling them a few minutes ago. No one would do this, as that call would have to be done by me and I never cancelled anything as no matter moving or selling we need the money . CTV called about coming out here to do a story and I didn't hear the phone ring because i was outside working.

Is this how life is for every body? I am really only going back two years, a few monthes, a couple of weeks , yesterday and a few mintues ago. And i could write a few dozen more things but i don't want to bore you as the flood happened before all that did and i can't seem to remember much before that happened now and maybe that is a good thing.

I seem to be one of those people who can take a beating and still get up, go ahead call me Rocky.

I will get threw this , I will!!!!!!!!

And one day i won't be beating my head against the wall and volunteers will come , fundraisers will happen and more animals will be saved because we have the money.

A case of apples is dropped off , a new friend helps me from Edmonton and another sponsor comes in.

And that is how i get threw the day here every day, oh and a waggy tail is the icing.

Hi-Yo Oh Silver Awayyyyyyyyyy

Perhaps the title chosen is one many of you younger readers won't understand. But for many of us they are the departing words of a cowboy on white horse on a TV show we watched when we were very young. Depticing all that is good wearing a white cowboy hat he rode off into the sunset riding his horse named Silver but not before saving the town and its good people from the bad guys in more ways then one.

Dayna arrived ten days ago, driving 13 hours from Edmonton to help someone she didn't know. Having always loved pigs found us on the net and chose to spend her vacation time here with me and the pigs. An email arrived asking if i could use some help and one telephone conversation later she was on the way.

And in the first few days of her arrival we packed straw into houses, unloaded hay, raked pens, pushed wheelbarrows and set aside every thing in my cupboards offensive. She brought easy to read cook books and taught me about reading ingredients that have lactose and whey. I ate things I have never even heard of and bit into others that for all sorts of reasons i found distasteful, which is bizarre for even me when you think about what could be more disgusting then eating something that had suffered before it got to my glass or my plate.

Dayna was natural with the pigs and they all loved her as she cooed her sweet messages and we talked late every night. We shared stories of frustration in all that we stand for, her a staunch vegan whose quest to educate and me a sanctuary director both animal activists in all that we do 24/7.

She talked about the difference of organic meat and dried pigs ears. One from an animal who was never medicated for any of its ailments and one who had medications force fed. Setting aside the obvious fact they both die horrifically and unnaturally it is all deadly to the enviormment, our health and our pets.

I have been vegan for ten days and ate meatless chicken salad, egg-less sandwiches , soups and fake chicken breasts. I drank soy milk both plain and chocolate as i removed dairy products from my world and i slept better and didn't feel sleepy before dinner time after working all day.

Now i am not one to cook and i still have all the fast foods i craved or left behind 16 years ago as she made me eat something new twice a day ( hahaha ) so its all good. Some of the products are so meat like its gross to me so there ya go. If I want a meat loaf sandwich i found the perfect substitute and I tried all the things i thought would be gross and how bizarre as what could be more gross then eating flesh.

She is smart and funny and living together came easy for both of us and in my heart i know the animals of the world, our planet, the kids here, and I have a friend.

Saying good bye this morning came easy as i was still half a sleep ,had only drank a bit of my coffee and it was so early. She jumped in her electric car and i grabbed a rain coat so i could open the gates. And it wasn't until after i waved good bye and i closed those gates did a wave of emotions take over. And as I continue on here typing the tears are falling like the rain she left in.

Hi-Yo Silver, away.

The Challange when Rescuing Pigs

This past week has been nothing but advertising , net working, table at the SPCA event and even a spot on the News. I am sure the amount of time we are seen in the news most will think wow she must be doing okay , she is always in the paper.

The facts are that a little networking got us 225.00 , the ad in the paper another couple of hundred and the TV spot 50.00.
We were however contacted by a gal who offered to put a fundraiser on for us at the Legion in Abbotford, a few emails asking about volunteering and a couple of calls asking about pigs for adoption.
That is good and is is how we have got to where we are today yet why we cannot do more then we are doing.

When i moved here in 1993 i was renting, and this is where i found my little Willy who taught me about loving pigs. When my landlord was going to sell it, I asked him if he would be willing to go into a partnership. This is how i bought this place and over the years i kept giving him more money and here i am today having the land and title, but him still owning 17% .

As most of you know the acreage is for sale , I can't afford to double my mortgage payment in order to buy my partner out. He wants the return now on his investment , its been 16 years. We have two acres and 41 grazing animals here and it is not enough room. I love everyone who lives here and my drive to do more for them is what keeps me moving forward. That one needs a bigger space , so do they and if i expand the piggy paddock's I cut into the horses pasture and everyone area to run free is effected. The open pasture becomes smaller and smaller every time i put up a pen.

Summer is easy but the winters are brutal. And for a species who needs the same temperatures as we do to survive with short legs in snow that must be shoveled before i can even feed at night well something has got to give. Before it is me, i need a better way to work this sanctuary so it can be maintained more efficiently. I am 52 year old and i am not sure how long i can keep up with this work so if i can't find pig help then i must bring in enough money to pay for it and that's not happening either.

I had two offers on the table yesterday and here we go . Now that i face the impending move i am scared and doubt everything i am doing. I am like the pigs , i am stubborn. It is what has kept me moving forward in everything i do. And I have faith and hope that if i re build , more help will come because i am doing Gods work and he has kept us safe. We never have to much but we always have what we need.

Last Wednesday Dayna arrived here who found out about us on the Internet and drove here from Edmonton to help me for ten days. I am desperate for help here so having someone move in with me for ten days is a blessing! She is vegan , has brought me cook books , bought everything and every day here i am eating nothing that suffered because of me. I have noticed i am not so tired at the end of the day , i don't wake up during the night thirsty and although some of it will acquire me having to get used to, if that is what i have to eat verses the flesh or end result of suffering that is what i will eat. Although i have not eaten meat for 16 years i cannot get what i need in peanut butter sandwiches from the lack of education on how to eat. And i will have to live 100 years or more as i have to be here to take care of pigs.

I had free range eggs in my fridge. What you don't want to know is that hens are the only thing that can lays eggs of course and while millions of little tiny yellow chicks move down the conveyor belts peeping , the boys are picked and chucked into a grinder. By eating eggs I am perpetuating standard practice in the poultry industry ..it goes on and on. My no egg tofu sandwich was just as good and no one was ground while alive for me.


I have a guy here doing community hours so i better get out there and follow behind what he is doing out there.

Our grant was denied as i bet most animals welfare groups are reading in emails in B.C. today so that insurance for the year has been removed. But they are not rescuing pigs and TV spots and advertising brings them in thousands of dollars so although they might be reeling, they will be okay because the public cares about cats and dogs just not pigs.

More to say but go to go for now , have a great day!

CBC Weeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Short post , crazy busy here!!! But we will be on TV Sunday . Our interview will be aired at 11:00 am!! That is what they tell me!

Totally a surprise , I came in the hosue and there was an email telling me they were on there way here !!!!!!! LOL

'You've Got A Friend In Me: Lessons in Love I Learned At the Fair' : Ventura : Ventura County Star

'You've Got A Friend In Me: Lessons in Love I Learned At the Fair' : Ventura : Ventura County Star

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Hearts On Noses is Advertising!!

Okay i made the big leap and spent some of the pigs money on advertising for both volunteers and financial support. "Think like a business", they tell me so relying on the monthly media attention we get from our local papers for years now on everything from the flood to community support like our shed delivery. And Craig Spences novel idea, or our pigs kissing principles all over the lower mainland does not bring the pigs any really huge public support. Our ad worth thousands is a one time deal as the price we got in itself is a miracle alone so with added prayers I hope to get the help with it "we" as in the pigs and I need!

Today's third phone call generated from the first ad last Tuesday i can't return because the number left on the answering machine is not clear. ;o(( The first call wanting a couple of pigs and the second from a genuine kind man who spoke with love of the pig they once had.

With the advertising and the articles in the papers this sanctuary has generated over the years i know had i of been rescuing cats or dogs we would surely be living in the Sanctuary of our dreams. I love cats and dogs and share my life with them and help in that field when i can but NO one is helping pigs or farm animals in B.C. in a big way. And it is not for lack of trying , let me tell you!!!!!!!!!

I even wrote one of the bigger players here in B.C. who works to change the laws of animals in production but basically got the " i must be doing something wrong" letter with a list of recommendations of how to proceed. HAHA Thanks , but i am doing the job 24/7 here and by writing you i was doing just that and trying to get you see the need for this Sanctuary to succeed in B.C. We are working for the same thing. I just live with, the animals your trying to change laws for. My first pig Willy would say " humpf " here.

Yes we do get support , yes the pigs have money in the bank but we are only maintaining the current work here. We need more to expand, help more, build a medical facility , an education center, provide tours for children, young adults and seniors.

I am more then grateful for EVERY person , dollar and visitor that comes threw here . If not for YOU the animals who live here now would not be safe. But what about the ones at the auction standing there in fear , smelling the death that surrounds them. And those left behind on abandoned properties waiting for someone like me??? The little goats and mini horse's the donkeys who were kids pets now wondering why they ended up in the slaughter line. Where is the darn family who left them to die this way , I need to be here!!!!!!!! Please please help me save them, save more .. i am ready to start crying now so I need to go out to a pig now that we saved .. spread the word for this little Sanctuary.

Victory for Pigs in Canada

HAPPY DANCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!





John J. Pippin, M.D., F.A.C.C.
There was no valid justification for using
live animals.

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Another Victory for Pigs in Canada


Life continues to improve for pigs in Canada. In July, PCRM announced an Advanced Trauma Life Support win for pigs in Toronto. Now, the University of Saskatchewan College of Medicine announced that it too will stop using live pigs in its program and exclusively use the TraumaMan System.


PCRM planned to file a complaint on Sept. 2 with the Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC) against the University of Saskatchewan. It urged officials to end the use of pigs in upcoming trauma training courses because it violated Canada’s national animal welfare standards.

But PCRM’s senior medical and research adviser John Pippin, M.D., recently learned that the university purchased and received one TraumaMan System and will rent a second. The TraumaMan System will replace the use of animals in the university’s Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) program. The university’s decision was covered by Canwest, the largest media company in Canada, and was reported in newspapers and TV stations across the country.

“The use of live pigs at the University of Saskatchewan undoubtedly caused pain and distress, and there was no valid justification for using live animals,” says Dr. Pippin. “The university’s decision to purchase the TraumaMan System underscores what 95 percent of ATLS programs already know: nonanimal teaching methods offer a more effective—and more humane—way to teach lifesaving procedures.”

Prior to the planned September complaint, Dr. Pippin sent three letters to the head of the trauma training program, Paul Hayes, F.R.C.S.C., that went unanswered, although he acknowledged seeing the letters. In the letters, Dr. Pippin asked that Dr. Hayes stop killing pigs in its trauma training program and switch to superior nonanimal training methods.

The win follows PCRM’s recent success at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, which stopped using animals and now exclusively uses the TraumaMan System.

But there’s still plenty of work to do in Canada and the United States. This summer, PCRM argued that Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s use of live pigs in a July trauma training course violated the federal Animal Welfare Act. ATLS training conducted at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee involves cutting into live, anesthetized pigs and practicing emergency medical procedures. Effective nonanimal training methods have been approved by the American College of Surgeons, the body overseeing these courses.

Vanderbilt is one of the last institutions in the country using animals in such courses. Lifelike human patient simulators or human cadavers are used at 95 percent of U.S. and Canadian facilities providing ATLS training.

But you can contact Vanderbilt’s dean of the school of medicine Jeffrey R. Balser, M.D., Ph.D., today and politely ask him to end animal use in the institution’s ATLS program before the October course.

To find learn more about ending animal use in ATLS programs, please visit HumaneTraumaTraining.org. Then join our Humane Trauma Training cause on Facebook.