Tiny Piglet Tumbles off Truck and Is Rescued by Compassionate Drivers

Tiny Piglet Tumbles off Truck and Is Rescued by Compassionate Drivers

  • Hannah Bugga
  • Hannah Bugga

Three Las Vegas residents were driving on a busy highway when they saw a tiny piglet fall out of a transport truck and onto the road. According to witnesses, the truck was going around 60 miles an hour, and the eight-to-12-week-old piglet “tumbled about 10, 15 times down the side of the freeway.”

Lars Gradel, his work partner Rebecca Zajac, and her seven-year-old son quickly stopped their car and rushed to rescue the terrified piglet. They wrapped him in a towel and put him in the car, surprised to discover he seemed relatively unharmed. Gradel said:

We assumed that he would be injured by the amount of tumbles he took on the freeway, and it was going like 60 miles per hour. But surprisingly, he was OK.

A veterinarian confirmed the piglet’s age and said that he had recently been weaned from his mother. More than likely, he had been on his way to a fattening facility where he would have been fed for six to eight months before being sent to slaughter. Instead, Lucky the pig went home with Zajac and her son, Colton, living comfortably in their backyard for the weekend until he was taken in by All Friends Animal Sanctuary

Lucky will spend about five months in quarantine before moving to a larger pen. While he is currently just 18 pounds, he could grow to a massive 700 or 800 pounds. Originally destined for slaughter, Lucky will enjoy quite a different life. Tara Pike, founder of All Friends Animal Sanctuary, said:

Now Lucky’s going to be wallowing in mud and rooting around in the ground and digging little holes with his snout and eating watermelon and popsicles in the summer.

While Lucky’s story is a happy one, every pig deserves to live out their lives in freedom and comfort. You can take a stand for pigs—and all animals—simply by leaving them off your plate. Download our FREE How to Eat Veg guide to get started.

Looking for more inspiring stories? Here are five brave animals who, like Lucky, risked everything to escape transport trucks