ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, July 28, 1996 TAG: 9607270010
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 10 EDITION: METRO (HEADSHOTS)
Porkchop is the poster pig for PIGS, a Sanctuary.
Most pigs at the sanctuary have sponsors who help pay for their food. Porkchop has six sponsors, more than any other pig on the premises.
It's easy to see why Porkchop attracts extra attention. He came to the sanctuary after his owner hit him with a board and broke his back. His hindquarters drag uselessly behind him as he pulls himself around by his front legs.
Porkchop doesn't get by on sympathy, though. He works for his sponsors, hauling himself to the end of the driveway where he waits for visitors. On most days, there are anywhere from two to 50 visitors, but some days no one comes. The last time that happened was a cold November day, when Porkchop had a particularly long haul from the barn that serves as his winter residence.
"He dragged his butt all the way down here and stared down the driveway all day," Riffle said. "Nobody came to visit, so in the evening, he dragged his butt all the way back to the barn."
During warm weather, Porkchop lives in a child's playhouse that has been converted for the sanctuary's four physically challenged pigs. The house was a gift from the wealthy owner of a pig named Mushu. Riffle and Brewer decided the air-conditioning unit was excessive and removed it from the window, but otherwise the house is intact, complete with flowers in the tiny window boxes.
Hope probably would not be alive today if hundreds of people had not rallied to protect her, flooding politicians and government officials with demands for her safety.
Hope still bears the scars of wounds on her body from bites, one of which took off an ear.
"Her owner basically put the pig in the yard for the dog to eat," Riffle said.
Although the pig sanctuary cannot take every pot-bellied pig in the country, its resources are used with considerable effectiveness in abuse cases like Hope's.
Riffle and Brewer were given temporary custody of Hope when animal control officers discovered her. They were nursing the pig, which was pregnant at the time, in their kitchen when a judge ordered Hope returned to her owner. For three days, the government telephones in Prince George County rang steadily with protests, most of them from sanctuary supporters. The call-in campaign got so much publicity that the owner finally agreed to give up all claim to the pig.
Annabelle snaps to attention when a visitor aims a camera in her direction. She stares straight into the lens with the brazenness of a showgirl. She pulls her chin in and positions herself at an angle to get in a little extra leg.
What a ham.
"She knows the business," Riffle said with admiration as he watched the pig strut her stuff.
Annabelle is from San Franciso, where she was the star of a nightclub act. Show business isn't all glamour, though, and Annabelle had to perform some pretty humiliating tricks to keep her audience happy. In the highlight of her act, she would flop to the ground and feign death when her owner pointed his finger at her and said, "Bang, dead piggy."
Annabelle had to retire when she broke her leg in three places. In deference to her star status, Riffle and Brewer have made a slight exception to that "pigs are pigs" rule and placed a placard on her pen with her stage name, "The Wig."
To sponsor a pig or find out more about PIGS, a Sanctuary, contact Dale Riffle at P.O. Box 629, Charles Town, W.Va. 25414, or call (304) 725-PIGS.
LENGTH: Medium: 67 linesby CNB