This porker is a real corker

Squeaky the pig goes hog-wild for pizza, cow-herding

By RICHARD STEWART Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
Aug. 12, 2008, 2:56AM

Ranch manager Mike Veara feeds the formerly feral pig marshmallows.

PHOTO GALLERIES
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ROSHARON — Call her Squeaky the Wonder Pig, or the cowpig or a 385-pound guard pig. But most of all, call her when it's time for pizza.

Squeaky is clearly no ordinary pig.

The pet and partner of Mike Veara, manager of Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan's China Grove Ranch in Brazoria County, she herds cows, eats pizza and greets most visitors to the ranch. "And she's a wild pig," Veara said. "You never see a feral pig like that." Veara insists that Squeaky taught herself all of her skills, not all of which are helpful.

She's been known to break into the ranch house and raid the refrigerator to messily slurp up raw eggs and leftover pizza. She considers a wallow in mud to be the height of fashion and doesn't like to be washed off. Although she seems to think of herself as some sort of porcine breed of dog, complete with barklike "oinks,"she's never become the least bit housebroken. But Veara forgives Squeaky's little faults — and Squeaky clearly loves Veara.

She was only hours old when he found her on the ranch 2½ years ago. "Her mother was dead," he said. "Probably somebody had shot her somewhere else and she came here to die." Several other piglets with her were also dead.

He fed it the same formula used for orphaned calves with a baby bottle. "My grandson named her Squeaky because she made a squeaking noise," Veara said. She adopted the 1,800-acre ranch as home.

Feral pigs, which weigh 100 to more than 400 pounds, are not normally welcome on Texas ranches, except as things to be hunted. The descendants of escaped domestic pigs many generations ago, they have the reputation of being fierce and destructive.
There are about 1.5 million feral pigs in Texas, according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

But Veara's partner likes to distinguish herself. "Squeaky hates other feral pigs," Veara said. "She will chase them away. When she runs across one of their tracks her hair will bristle up." Squeaky has known at least one feral hog. Seven months ago she gave birth to a pair of piglets.

"I wanted to put them on the barbecue pit," Veara said. "But Mr. Ryan has a soft heart for all animals and he's said we're going to send them to one of his other ranches in South Texas."
They haven't yet shown their momma's cow-herding abilities.
One day Veara and some ranch hands were herding some cattle on horseback when Squeaky got between the riders and the cattle. "I said let's just back off and see what she'll do," Veara said.
Squeaky herded almost 200 head of cattle into pens, just where Veara wanted them. Since then she's been a real cowpig.
She absolutely refuses to eat pig food. Her main rations are cat food and deer corn, Veara said. "And fish sticks. She loves fish sticks," he said. He often gives her cookies for snacks and she nibbles on marshmallows with delight. She loves to wash down a snack with a nice bowl of Dr Pepper, Veara said.

"Mr. Ryan likes to bring her candy, but I have to discourage that," Veara said. "If she gets too much sugar she goes into some sort of sugar high and starts running around all over the place.
"Ol' Squeaky is getting to be better known than the historical marker," he said, referring to a marker on FM 521 that notes that China Grove was once part of the plantation owned by Texas Revolutionary War hero and Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston.

Squeaky loves to play as much as work. She tugs at ropes and loves to play with balls. "You can throw her a soccer ball and she'll bat it all around with her head," Veara said.
If she gets the ball in her mouth, however, "she'll pop it," he said.
Some visitors to the ranch get her approval if they scratch her head. Others she won't let out of their vehicles.
She's not mean. She's just doing her job as a first-class watch pig.

Watch the video at: http://www.chron.com/content/chronicle/special/07/templates/listpop.html?bcpid=823433113&bctid=1716406566