Most of us are familiar with "This Little Piggy" by Mother Goose. Pigs and humans are intricately linked. Let's dive right in. How it all began.
Hola, Aloha, Hi, Hello, Welcome! We are so excited you have joined us on our site!
As this is our first post, I would like to introduce ourselves. I am Joanna, the Executive Director of Selah's Pig Sancturay.
Sanctuary life chose us.
Three years ago, I never would have guessed I would be running a pig sanctuary in Hawaii. Within six months of moving to Hawaii, an orphaned baby piglet was dropped off in my lap when her mama was killed by hunters and she was too small to survive on her own (days old). We named her Selah. Selah is a Hebrew word with several meanings, which include"the silence inbetween words", "pause", "lift-up", "exalt", "always", "forever". It was the multifacetedness and tenderness within the word that reminded me of her temperament. I suddenly found myself a mama to sweet little baby pig Selah. She became my companion during covid. I moved to Hawaii just two weeks before lockdown in March 2020 and Selah entered my life soon afterwards. We became best friends during lockdown. Little did I know where our friendship would take us.
Like any responsible pig mama we had Selah spayed at three-months old. Everything went swimmingly, she did great and recovered well! We would go on daily walks and played hide and seek together. As time went on, I noticed she was getting more rotund, and tried to introduce her to a healthy balanced diet.
One day, when I returned home from work I noticed she had filled out, but only on the lower half of her belly. I was very concerned to say the least. Frantic, I called several vets, all of whom were unable to diagnose her over the phone. Hawaii island is quite large and resource limited. The only vets who see large animals are on the other side of the island and there are only two in total. That night I noticed she couldn't get comfortable and would lay down and then stand back up. This was a constant cycle, but she didn't seem to be in any serious pain.
During the day we would allow Selah to play in the pasture. She loved to run and graze. But the next evening when she didn't come home I became worried. I spent hours calling her name and searching for her in the pasture.
I was devastated at the thought of losing my companion and best friend. I called my human best friend, Nicole, whom I call the animal whisperer, to seek advice. From my characterization of Selah's "symptoms" Nicole was 100% positive she was pregnant and was in labor the night before. She informed me that many animals need a quiet area to give birth in, and the barn was likely too loud with the dogs barking and running around. She was fairly certain that Selah had built a nest close by, given birth, and was with her young. Wild pigs typically don't forage much for food the first 7 days after their piglets are born. Nicole told me to wait 7 days and then keep looking for her.
Impatient, I would go out into the pasture everyday looking for her and calling her name; tears streaming down my face. A part of me was afraid I had lost my best friend forever, but another stronger part of me KNEW Nicole was right. I can recall telling my roommates our theory and feeling deflated when they didn't believe us. My roommates had been with us during Selah's spaying procedure... the odds were not in our favor.
After seven days of no luck finding her, my hope was growing thin, yet I was determined to do everything in my power to find her. Selah grew up with an adorable dog named Apple, who belonged to Lance. Lance lived on, and helped take care of the farm. On day seven of Selah missing, I recruited Lance and Apple's help. Lance told me to keep a look out from the upstairs lanai which had a bird's eye view of the entire pasture. I kept watch, while he and Apple went looking for her. After 45 min of circling the entire pasture he came towards the front of the paddack and motioned for me to come down.
Even though I couldn't see any pigs from my perspective, I immediately knew he had found Selah and she was with her babies. I grabbed 2 entire bags of treats because I knew she would be thin and starving from feeding her babies. At that moment it began to rain. I put my boots on as fast as I possibly could and ran outside, treats in hand, with no raincoat, to meet Lance and Apple in the pasture. I was weeping with tears of joy, even though I was still hundreds of feet away from Lance and Apple and did not definitely know if he had found her yet.
By the time I reached him, it was pouring rain! I walked slowly towards him the last 20 feet and sweetly called out "Seeellaaahhhh". Out she popped, from behind the brush, her 5 babies tucked under the grass cuddling together.
I sat with her in the rain for 3 hours that evening, feeding her and kissing her. Lance put his raincoat over us and I cried, although you wouldn't have known it because it was raining so hard.
Nicole was 100% right. Selah had built a nest close by, gave birth to 5 beautiful healthy babies, and was protecting them for the first week of their lives. From then on, I would make elaborate dishes of pasta with vegetables, oatmeal, vegan meatballs and more for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and bring them to her in the pasture. We picnicked together three times a day and she would introduce me to her babies. They slowly began to trust me as they saw how comfortable Selah was with me.
Within a week Selah and the babies would meet me at the barn for meal times. However, noise and dogs barking at the barn would scare them away easily and they would run home to the nest Selah had built them.
I was renting an apartment on this farm at the time and had little control over the environment. So we did the best we could with what we had. Slow and steady wins the race.
Selah nursed the babies for over 9 weeks. It was one of my greatest joys in life to witness mother pigs feeding their young. Mother pigs sing to thier young when they are nursing. There was another adult female pig that lived on the farm, that belonged to another resident, named Gwen. Selah and Gwen would harmonize with eachother as Selah fed her babies.
This was such a joyful time, but in the back of my mind I knew Selah would have to be-respayed and I had no idea how I was going to feed, and take care of 6 pigs? I also knew that we were going to have to transport all the pigs to the other side of the island for these procedures, and it would involve more resources than I had available to me.
With the help of my friends and family we found a trailer.
I was adamant not to let anyone persuade me into having Selah re-spayed until after she had decided she was done nursing her babies. With the help of my friends and family, I found a trailer and made an appointment with the vet. We made our long journey to Waimea. I knew the risk was higher for larger adult pigs going under anaestesia. When the vet called me to tell me that Selah's spay procedure went well, I was sooooo happy! The vet wanted to keep her overnight for observation, so I made the 2.5 hour drive back home.
As soon as I got home I received a call from the vet. Selah started bleeding from her sutures. They rushed her back into surgery, but it was too late. She had lost too much blood and had passed away.
I was broken. I loved Selah as much as I could love anyone else. I didn't understand it. We had been through so much together. How could this be real? How could she not be returning home to her babies? What would the babies think? They were nearly three months old now, and we had given them names: Spot, Pinky, Curious, Maverick, and Massimo.
The next morning I went to the barn to feed the piglets. I stayed with them for 5 hours, giving them belly rubs, crying, and decompressing. It became clear that I could not give these babies away. It became even clearer that I would start a pig sanctuary in Selah's honor and the five piglets would remain a family.
Now we have moved onto our own slice of heaven. We have been able to create a safer and calmer environment for them and we hope to grow the sanctuary sustainably as we strive to help as many pigs as we can. Forever a student of life; Selah my teacher.
Have you ever had an experience in life that lit a passion in you that you didn't even know existed? What was it? How did it change your life? Was trauma, grief or loss involved? What came from it?
We want to hear from you! We want to hear your stories. What juicy piece of wisdom came from your life experience that involved animals and unconditional love?
Comment and tell all below!
Where there is love, there is possibility of loss. But the treasure and beauty in the unfolding is a life worth living.
That is a very moving, well written story. The website is beautiful and clearly a labor of love.