PLENTY Spring 2020 Plenty Spring 2020-WEB | Page 12

the Sanctuary. “We were in the
farm animal rescue business a
little over 18 months and grow-
ing slowly. We only had eight
pigs cared for in half of a barn at
the time,” Terry recalls.
Animal Control had called all
the farmers in the area and were
at a loss. No one was willing to
take 100 pigs. They had to find a
staging area right away, contact
the owner and get the pigs trans-
ported to their destination—pre-
sumably a slaughter house. On
the phone Terry was adamant,
“We will not be a holding facility
for a slaughter house!”
Animal Control assures Ter-
ry that in fact they are going to
press cruelty and abandonment
charges against the owner. Terry
relents and agrees to put them
up temporarily in the Sanctu-
ary’s four-acre pasture.
The tractor-trailer and
locked cab get towed to Poplar
Spring. “It took 20 hours to un-
load the pigs. We literally had to
build a ramp to get them off the
top floor of the truck. Neighbors
pitched in, bought lumber and
worked through the night. No
one slept. One by one, every ter-
rified pig was pulled out. After
we got them all out safely, the
most amazing thing happened.
They started looking up at the
sky. Because they were raised in
a factory farm, they had never
seen open sky before and were
in complete awe. I vowed to my-
self in that moment that nothing
bad would ever happen to these
pigs again.”
Terry and Dave went into
high gear reaching out to friends
and volunteers for help. “We
called the feed store and ordered
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plenty I Spring sowing 2020
“That whole tragedy re-
ally was the beginning of
our sanctuary. And we’ve
been able to help so many
animals ever since because
of that singular event.”
a huge amount of food because it
wasn’t 100 pigs—it was actually 171!
A pig sanctuary in West Virginia
helped us out with funding, order-
ing sheds, water troughs, and
kindly advised us on care for so
many pigs,” reports Terry.
Three days later, Terry gets a
call from the Humane Society. The
truck driver had been located.
Intoxicated, he had wandered off
and abandoned the truck. The
owner of the pig farm had been
contacted but could not be sued
because he was not the negligent
driver. And because the trucker
did not own the pigs, there was
no legal recourse. And the final
blow: the pigs must be given back
to the owner who is coming for
them now with another truck, and
there is nothing that can be done
about it. Terry responded, “Well,
I’m going to do something about
it!” She heads to the Sanctuary
gate, locks and barricades it.
The Humane Society calls the
police who arrive at the gate and
demand to have it opened. Terry
wants to see a warrant. The police
don’t have one. It’s a weekend,
and Monday would be the first
opportunity to get one. “At that
point, we called our attorney, a
friend and a volunteer with ex-
perience in animal law. She came
right over.”
It wasn’t long before the
owner of the pigs shows up at
Poplar Spring with his attorneys
in a big stretch limo. A rather
hulking man, he starts right in, “I
want my pigs back!” Terry remains
cool. “No, you’re not getting them
back.” Terry, Dave and their at-
torney have a plan. They know it’s
all about the money—the basic
value of the pigs to the owner—so