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Piggy pets find new winter home in Sweden

The Local Sweden
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Piggy pets find new winter home in Sweden
One of the mini pigs in Blekinge. Photo: Barnens Gård

Four adorable miniature pigs have found new homes over the winter after their owners' appeal for help went viral in Sweden.

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In summer, the sow Minna, boar Merkurius, barrow Piggelita Wurst and another sow, who so far does not have a name, spend their time rooting around in the mud in a paddock at the Barnens Gård farm ('children's farm') near Karlskrona in southern Sweden.

But the animals are sensitive to the Nordic country's chilly winters and need a warm home with roofs over their snouts when the mercury dips below zero. And thanks to their story going viral in Sweden this week, the little pigs won't have to freeze.

"It was really difficult to find someone to take them in until it appeared in the paper. We had to find two homes that were suitable for them but it was completely hopeless," Åsa Alm at Barnens Gård in Blekinge county told The Local on Friday.


One of the adorable mini pigs. Photo: Barnens Gård

It was not until regional tabloid Kvällsposten first wrote about their plight this week that the appeal went viral in Sweden. But suddenly they found themselves indundated with calls from prospective pig caretakers.

"Some people got in touch offering to put them up in their apartments, but we have had to say no to that. They need a place in a barn with proper straw bedding," said Alm.

Two local farmers have now offered to provide a winter residence for the four animals, and although Alm has yet to meet them, she believes the problem has been solved.


Is this the cutest animal ever? Photo: Barnens Gård

And next up: piglets. Merkurius is set to leave the bachelors' pad he's sharing with Piggelita Wurst and move in with Minna in the hope for romance to arise – which could see another couple of mini-mini pigs rooting around in the paddock by next summer.

"They are cute and cuddly for the children to play with," said Alm, who is busy organizing a Halloween event with a twist, telling traditional Swedish ghostly tales at the farm later on Friday.

Finally, just because we know you are wondering: yes, Piggelita Wurst got his name from 2014 Eurovision Song Contest winner and the world's most famous drag queen Conchita Wurst.

"We had a name competition online around the time when she won Eurovision and thought it was appropriate. It was a suggestion by a couple of creative people from Blekinge," laughed Alm.

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