A former emotional support pig has been receiving his own emotional support from a chicken that is helping him to adapt to a new life in a Wildlife Rescue of BC.
Tuffles arrived at the new Beginnings animal sanctuary in Summerland, BC, after being welcomed by the BC SPCA earlier this year.
The 10-year-old pig had been an emotional support animal for a family that had to move and could not take it with them, according to New Beginnings president, Jane Long-Haggerty, who says it was “very exciting” to be able to provide a permanent home.
But when he reached the sanctuary, he was quite shy since he was not used to being close to many other animals, he said.
“He only went to a small corner,” he said, added that he scared other animals that tried to approach him.
But there was an exception: a recently rescued chicken called Little Red that began to share a meal with truffles.
“She was the only one who didn’t leave, and he really likes her,” Long-Haggerty said. “Now they sleep together, they lie in the sun, they eat, they are together most of the time. It’s really cute.”
Long-Haggerty said that while it is not unusual for chickens and pigs to cohabit and get along, it is unusual for two of them to form such close link to each other, with a small red jump on the back of the truffles to prepare it and sometimes they receive walks.
“It’s as if they met,” he said.
Radio to the west9:24Pork and chicken friendship
An unusual friendship between a pig and a chicken has flourished in Summerland. Jane Long-Haggerty is the president of the New Beginnings Animal Sanctuary. She tells us more about how the truffles of the pig and the little red have become friends.
Truffes on a weight loss trip
The history of Tuffles was already known in some sectors after entering the SPCA in April. According to Long-Haggerty, he had been briefly in the care of another family that did not know how to take care of it properly, and had globalized more than 300 pounds, overweight and the need for a diet.
“Truffles has a story of not eating his vegetables, but he is beginning to find certain healthy foods he likes,” the SPCA said on his adoption page.
They also noticed their history as an emotional support animal, saying that it was sure to be a “sweet and loving friend” for those who accompany him.
What they probably did not expect was that the friend was a chicken more than 10 times smaller than him.
“When you see it, all pigs are in one corner and he is in another corner of the barn with his chicken,” Long-Haggerty said. “He doesn’t care that goats are close from time to time, but he definitely wants his chicken friend.”
She said he is eating a more appropriate diet and performing regular exercises, and is also extremely friendly to people, so the sanctuary is optimistic that it will reach its objective weight again.
And she expects history to also offer lessons lessons about the importance of understanding how to take care of pets before adopting them and about the power of friendship.
“If a chicken and a pig can be so good friends, why can’t people simply get along?”
