Henry David Thoreau was one of the 159 pigs surrendered to OMI when we took over the Tennessee property in 2021. He’s a massive boy who lives in the Old Guys neighborhood. All we know of his history is that he was auctioned off at a kill shelter in North Caroline years ago, and he was lucky enough to be scooped up by compassionate people that day. That’s all it takes…one person choosing to show compassion starts a chain reaction of goodness for animals like HDT.
It’s not uncommon for farmed animals to end up at auction from local animal shelters, which are usually only designed to help dogs and cats. If the shelter has no place to safely house animals like pigs, they really only have two options. Either they find the animal a home (often one that would breed them and exploit them), or they send the animal to auction. It’s usually a very heartbreaking end to being “rescued” from cases of abuse, neglect or abandonment. Rescue organizations like Odd Man Inn can only take in a small fraction of the cases that need help, and HDT is a very lucky boy to be allowed to live his full lifespan in peace here. We’re grateful to know him.
