Three abandoned little pigs rescued in Fenland

A complex six-hour rescue mission took place to catch three little pigs apparently abandoned in the freezing Fens.

The animals were spotted on Wednesday in a field near March, in Cambridgeshire, after reportedly being let out of a van at the side of a road.

Local vet staff and a council dog warden came to the rescue but the attempt took many hours – not to mention a lot of food – before all three were rounded up.

Seemingly in good health, they have now been rehomed with a Defra-registered veterinary nurse.

A member of the public called Triovet, which has a practice in the area, to report seeing the pigs being let out of a van.

Staff called on Shelley Ridgeon, a stray dog collection officer contracted by Fenland District Council, to help round up the animals.

Ridgeon said she “rather naively” thought she and her daughter could catch them quite easily using slip leads.

“I can catch a stray dog, but a pig is a different story,” she said.

In the end, a team of vet staff helped using a combination of stealth, ingenuity and a great deal of food to capture all three.

“We used five loaves of bread, chicken drumsticks, pasta, apples, crackers – anything we could get our hands on for them to eat,” Ridgeon said.

And at one point, animal care assistant Chloe Abbott even donned a green blanket and lay down in the field hoping she would “blend in with the grass” and the pigs would approach her. It did not work.

“I think I scared them,” she admitted.

For a number of hours the rescuers were “jumping across dykes and through fields and slipping and sliding everywhere – it was a bit of a nightmare and bitterly cold”, Ridgeon said.

The porkers were not exactly pootling about, but once safely rounded up, Triovet owner Adrian Dodoiu, whose team often helps out Ridgeon, examined the small-breed pigs, which they believed may be kunekunes, and declared them in good health.

They have now been found a warm rescue home nearby.

Cambridgeshire Police confirmed it received a report of “three abandoned pigs in Lambs Hill Drove, March” on Wednesday and said the council dog warden was dealing with the incident.