Big Pig Chronicles: PR for Hearts on Noses Sanctuary

Miss Piggy

Janice Gillett has dedicated her life to saving such friends as Daisy, Don Juan, Flower and Peppermint Patty.

Amy Steele, The Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows Times

Published: Friday, February 08, 2008

When Janice Gillett approaches Captain Norm, a large, black pot-bellied pig, he immediately begins loudly snorting and wagging his tail in delight.

She begins talking to him in the special baby talk she reserves for her 28 pot-bellied pigs that are spread out in well cared for pens on her two-acre property in Maple Ridge.

As Gillett introduces her visitor to all her pigs, with memorable names such as Daisy, Peppermint Patty, Flower, Don Juan, Casanova and Sparkle, it's obvious that every pig is special to her.

"We don't want to leave one pig out. Every pig is important to mom, every one," she said.

When one of the pigs, Teddy, doesn't come out of his little house, Gillett crawls in to check on him. Teddy is buried under his blanket and straw and looks slightly perturbed to be interrupted from his cozy nest.

"Teddy! Answer me when I call your name because I worry," she said to him.

Gillett has an all consuming passion for pot-bellied pigs so much so that caring for abused, injured or abandoned pigs has essentially become her life's mission.

She's always been an animal lover and that's obvious when you enter her house and find a house cat, two dogs and a turtle. But it wasn't until she met Willy, a stray pot-bellied pig who just showed up on her property in Maple Ridge, that she discovered her favourite animal companion.

"I moved here in 1993 and a little pig was rooting around here in the freezing cold on Boxing Day. That was Willy. I loved that pig. He was so cute. He played the piano and played tricks and liked to be covered at night and gave kisses and did all the typical bratty behavior," she said.

Gillett looked up into the sky and spoke as if she were talking to Willy in the flesh. Willy died in 2005 and Gillett still misses him immensely. "This is all your fault Willy! You better send me some more help. He's in heaven now."

After Gillett adopted Willy she started researching pot-bellied pigs and found out that many end up needing a caring home. She opened the Hearts on Noses Pig Sanctuary in 2002 to try and rescue as many of the pigs as she could.

"If I didn't take care of them they'd end up slaughtered, dead," she said.

While Gillett walks from pen to pen giving each pig a little snack, taking the time to give each pig some affection, a four-month-old white pot-bellied pig madly scampers around the yard. He runs up to the older, bigger pigs and tries to play or grabs a stuffed pink teddy bear.

Comet was the first pig that Gillett has ever bought but she did so to stop him from ending up with an unscrupulous pig breeder.

Comet is currently living with her in her house. In order to get her attention Comet often jumps up on her leg like a dog, getting her pants all dirty. Gillett admonishes him but is obviously delighted. "Leaping Comet, get down!" she says.

When Gillett enters one pen with pigs they all crowd around her waiting to be scratched or petted. When they're happy their bristles stand up on end, she said.

Gillett is on a constant mission to let people know that pot-bellied pigs can't be treated like livestock. Instead they are "companion animals" that need to get a lot of attention from their human owners. During the summer Gillett's house is open to any pigs that might want to wander in for a visit. In the winter she alternates, bringing different pigs in on rotation.

"They all yearn to be back in that big house again," said Gillett. "They're just as much of a friend and a companion as any cat or dog will be. They like to come up and lie beside you. They come and push their head into your leg. All these are loving gestures like cats and dogs.

"The thing is pot-bellied pigs are pigs. They usually grow to be at least 150 pounds and never learn to be obedient. Often people don't know what they're getting into when they buy them.

"They're little brats. (Comet's) all over the house. He's into everything -- the garbage, the cat food. He's pulling the table cloth off your coffee table because there's stuff on it. He's really active and not everybody is going to put up with that behaviour," explained Gillett. "With a dog you say go lie down. A pig is going to lie down when he wants to lie down."

Over the years Gillett estimates she's saved hundreds of pigs (as well as the occasional emu, duck and sheep) by taking them into her pig sanctuary or by finding them new homes with good owners who fully appreciate them. Some of the pigs come from SPCA cruelty investigations. Some are given away by owners who are no longer able to keep them or who never should have gotten them in the first place but did so for the novelty.

Each day Gillett spends hours feeding the pigs and cleaning their pens. After a flood this spring she had to spend three months in cleanup mode.

Although she loves her pigs wholeheartedly life as an animal rescuer can sometimes be extremely demoralizing, exhausting and lonely. Gillett wonders why people don't care more about pigs, compared to say dogs or cats. She desperately wants more help at her pig sanctuary and needs more monetary donations. There's a for sale sign up at her acreage and she's looking into moving to another community where her property taxes will be cheaper.

"I don't know what to say anymore to convey to people that I need help and even with the media coverage I'm getting, I'm not getting the help. I'm not getting the support. I go weeks without anyone helping down here," she said. She said she needs more volunteers so her pigs can "get more loving."

However, Gillett remains dedicated to her sanctuary. She knows that sometimes people regard her as a "rare bird" due to her passion for pigs. But she doesn't care. Her passion continues unabated.

"I tell (all the pigs) it's my job to take care of you. Leave the worries to mom. I tell them it's a good job. Sometimes I work so hard I don't have time to give you the love that you need but where would they go if I didn't bring them home?"