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49 °F Forecast | Road Cams Tuesday, May 10, 2005 Today's News | Shop Our Valley | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery | Contact Us SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Health Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley SHOP OUR VALLEY AutoFinder HomeFinder JobFinder Classified Place an ad TOP JOBS EXTRA Ashland News NIE Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Moving here? eSouthernOregon CUSTOMER SERVICE FAQ's Advertise with us Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend July 16, 2002 Festival pig goes whole hog for freedom The piglet follows kids through an exit from the Children’s Festival petting zoo on Monday By CHRIS ABBEY Mail Tribune JACKSONVILLE — The pig bugged out. Maybe it didn’t want to be petted. Maybe it heard the call of the wild. Maybe it misunderstood the theme of this year’s Children’s Festival, which is "Let the Festival Bug- In." Whatever the reason, Kim Pugsley’s unnamed potbellied pig took a powder from the festival’s popular petting zoo Monday morning, not long after the start of the 9 a.m. session. "We have an entrance gate and an exit gate" in the petting zoo, Pugsley said. "He went out the exit with some kids. The volunteer on duty feels real bad about it." Pugsley brought the two-month-old pig and a female litter mate (still at the site) to the festival to help socialize them. "It’s really good for them," she said — and important, because these pigs are sold as pets. DeDe Soderlund, chairwoman of the festival’s Mother Goose Land, was near the zoo enclosure when she heard the cry of "Pig on the loose! The pig is loose!" She turned and saw Pugsley and others pursuing the small, black, white-legged pig, which was headed toward the reserved seats in front of the Britt Festivals stage. Soderlund joined the group as it attempted to corral the pig. "I tried to cordon him, and came close, but he turned toward Kim and she just missed him," Soderlund said. "Then he ran through the C, B and A (sections) and right up the hill." The pig overlooked, for the moment, the handy open gate near the top of the Britt property, ran to the back fence — and sat down. "It’s a warthog!" startled kids sitting nearby shouted to Soderlund. Around this time, Pugsley realized that most of her volunteers were chasing the pig and went back to the petting zoo to keep the rest of the animals from joining the pig’s mad dash for freedom. The others again tried to close in on the pig when it focused on the open gate and made a successful dash for it. Soderlund thought a nearby trash bin would capture the pig’s attention — but this pig’s hunger was not for leftovers. It dashed under a car and onto a trail, then turned and looked back at the humans. Soderlund bent down and called "Here piggy, piggy, — OK, I know that was stupid," she says — and "he took off. I gave up. The kids chased him for a while." The pig, an unneutered male who clearly has failed socializing 101, is probably still in the woods above Jacksonville. Running free. Reach copy editor Chris Abbey at 776-4408 or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback Free Music Downloads Conference Calls - $50/Month Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker, Trunk, Footlockers home equity loans helzberg diamonds Distance Education Diamonds Paris Hilton Online Poker Auto Insurance Mesothelioma Slippers Student Loans Tatoo tcg student loan consolidation teleconferencing Website Design & Marketing Memory Foam Mattress w2 forms Tatoos Mortgage Calculator Free Home-Loan Referrals Payday Loans Advertisement s