Hi All! My name is Priscilla and I am the newest lucky pig to come live at Zoology Foundation! I used to live with a family in a place where pigs weren’t allowed. My family tried to keep me a secret but one day I escaped and when the neighbors saw me, they called the police! Quickly after that, animal control called our Big Boss to see if I could come live at Zoology. I guess all the humans had a meeting about me and wisely, they all decided I would be a great addition! Before I could see my new home though, I had to go see the veterinarians all the way up at Colorado State University. I had never been to the vet before and it was scary but they were so nice to me. My toes were so overgrown that I had trouble walking so I felt so much better after I had a pedicure. Sadly though, the vets said I was very fat, probably my diet could have been better at my old home.
I was pretty nervous when I got to Zoology and it took a while before I could walk normally, I had to get used to my shorter toes. At first, I had some concerns that the bipeds knew how to take good care of me. Gone was all the junk food and they only gave me actual pig grain and fruits and veggies. I wanted to complain, you know how it is when you have to clean up your diet but you just want cookies and cheetos! But now, I love all those good foods and I have done so well on my diet that on my second trip to CSU, my vets didn’t recognize me.
Slowly I began to make friends with my biped caretakers. One of the bipeds wanted to be my first friend so she would patiently hang out with me and one day, I let her scratch my back. After that, I realized how much I liked this place and the bipeds! I also have some other pig friends. I used to live in my own stall with my own outside area but one day, Chevy and I became friends and now, we live mostly together. The bipeds are hoping that in the cold Winter, Chevy and I will snuggle with each other for warmth. That will be up to Chevy though, she likes to act a little grumpy but I know she is all bluster, I’ll keep working on her and before she knows it, we might be sleeping in the same bed! Another pig friend of mine named Frankie and I have a few things in common; we both like to drink other pig’s water (it tastes better than our own) but also, we both prefer our clean kiddie pools to sit in when it’s hot. Chevy, Jonesy, and Sweet Pea seem to prefer their mud wallows. Lately though, the bipeds have seen me trying a wallow out and it wasn’t too bad – it did help keep those pesky flies off of me. We’ll see, I do like clean pools! After a fun morning in the pasture, I like to come inside my stall (or Chevy’s if she isn’t looking) and take a nap under the fans.
There are fun activities for pigs at Zoology too. All us pigs get to go out to eat grass in a giant pasture EVERY DAY! That grass is so delicious! Also, the bipeds do what they call Enrichment for us lucky pigs. Usually the enrichment is some sort of puzzle feeder for us to figure out how to get an extra treat. Sometimes if we are lucky, they include peanut butter as a treat. With all this deliciousness happening, every month the bipeds do what they call Body Condition Scoring – I call it The Day of Reckoning. The bipeds bring out their diagrams and charts, comparing this part of our body to those charts and feeling our hip bones. Then after a lot of careful consideration, they assign us each a score and depending on that number, our diets may be adjusted. It’s gotten so bad that whenever I see the bipeds, I feel like I need to suck it in! My frenemy Sweet Pea is just about the biggest pig I have ever seen! She says she weighs almost 550 lbs and you should see the amount of fruits and veggies she gets TWO TIMES A DAY! I bet if I got that big, the bipeds would have a heart attack!
One thing that I have really started to like is when people come to Zoology for tours! At first, I was pretty nervous and kind of stayed in the back of the yards but now, I realize I have the responsibility of all us pigs to show everyone how wonderful and smart we are. I also like to listen to the biped tour guides talk about all our stories and how we came to Zoology. I have it so good here that I sometimes forget my own story! I didn’t know a pig could be so happy! I might just go onto Yelp and leave a 5 Star review!!
