Pig mom escapes farm to save her babies

• Pregnant pig Matilda managed to escape the farm where she lives.
• She wanted to spare her babies’ life from their imminent fate, so she decided to give birth in the woods.
• Brinsley Animal Rescue founders Jon Beresford and Beth Hewis found them and took them in the shelter.

Matilda, a pig carrying babies in her womb, managed to break out of farm to spare her babies’ lives from their imminent fate.

She found a safe place to deliver her babies — into the deep woods.

Thankfully, a dog walker found Matilda and her newborn piglets in a wooded area in Ollerton, Nottingham just in time. Albeit surprised to see farm pigs in the woods, she sought the help of Brinsley Animal Rescue.

Jon Beresford and Beth Hewis, founders of the animal rescue, said that “Matilda’s babies looked well, [but] she was thin and able to graze but not forage for food as she had a ring through her nose.”

With nine babies in tow, keeping Matilda safe would be a difficult task, as Jon and Beth needed to get permission from the farm where they came from.

But one thing for sure, Jon wanted a safe place for Matilda and her piglets.

“She had the maternal drive to escape and save her babies — we could not let her go back,” Jon said. “But we couldn’t just collect them. How could we save them? Ultimately, we needed the consent of the owners.”

Jon then made a move to get hold of the farm’s contact information by launching a public campaign. He shared Matilda’s story to the media and it went viral in no time.

However, Jon did not expect things would not go according to plan. “As the story appeared in almost every UK national paper, the company then made contact,” he said. “They wanted to know the location of Matilda, in their words, ‘to check her over.’ We felt betrayed when a photographer for a national paper photographed the farm taking them back to her enclosure.”

Jon obviously wanted freedom for Matilda and her babies, as he was so sure that it is the very reason why Matilda escaped in the first place. He then organized a protest to free them, and soon enough, farmers heeded his call.

Now, Matilda and her nine adorable babies are living in the comfort of their new home — at Brinsley Animal Rescue, where they are being given utmost TLC every single day.

“Matilda is a very good mum. She is also very friendly and is happy for us to fuss over her and her babies,” Jon said. “She feeds them and sleeps, then we let her out for a runaround and graze, as well as have a good mud bath, and it’s not long before she returns to feed the many mouths.”

“They have the best life!” he added.