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And this little piggy was spared

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By Barb Ickes | Saturday, July 05, 2008 |

Bacon, the pig rescued from the flooded Mississippi River last month, will get to ride on a Fourth of July parade float in Oquawka, Ill. Buy this Photo

Not every pig gets to ride on a float in the Fourth of July parade.

But Bacon is no ordinary pig. In fact, he’s something of a celebrity in little Oquawka, Ill.

Cheryl Crooks and Lori Pullen said the poor little pig was in terrible shape when their brother, Jeff Pullen, hauled him out of the flooded Mississippi River late last month.

“It was so sad that first night,” Crooks said. “He was all scratched up and sunburned all to hell.”

The sisters estimate that the swine swam for dozens of miles, probably from a large confinement in Oakville, Iowa, which is a considerable distance upriver from Oquawka.

“He was totally exhausted — just wiped out,” Pullen said. “For two or three days, he barely moved.”

But he’s moving now. The poor pig isn’t so poor now that he’s got a home, a personalized trough, a dog to hang out with and all the food he can eat.

In fact, the swimming pig is living high on the hog in his new hometown of 1,500 people. He’s even going to appear in the Fourth of July parade — on a float with a sandbag-theme, designed by his rescuer.

Despite the rumors, he’s most definitely not going to be the entrée at the subsequent holiday feast.

“They are not going to roast him, no,” Crooks said. “That is not going to happen. The pig is living at my mom’s house, and my sister’s already got him spoiled.”

Pullen admits that’s true.

“We got a bunch of pig pellets, cracked corn and leftover table scraps,” she said. “He’s living with Brooke (a dog) in an enclosure behind the garage. Brooke’s real good with him. She likes him.

“That business about roasting Bacon — that was just a bad joke to get people in town going.”

We already know that the fate of pigs, especially swimming pigs, can get people going.

Thousands of the animals were forced by the flood to flee their Iowa and Illinois farms. Some were evacuated before the waters reached their confinements. Many drowned. Others were shot by police after swimming for miles and then seeking high ground on already imperiled levees.

Some folks were saddened by the pig killings, given their impressive display of the survival instinct. While most people understood that authorities simply couldn’t allow the animals’ hooves to breech the sensitive levees, many still felt sorry for them.

People who were waging their own battles with the floodwaters were especially sensitive to the hogs’ plight. Knowing the animals had been swimming for miles and miles in a fight for their lives, it seemed like the poor creatures ought to catch a break.

And Bacon did.

To wash down all those pig treats, Lori Pullen said Bacon enjoys drinking from a

garden hose.

Maybe he doesn’t want to make a you-know-what of himself.

Barb Ickes can be contacted at

(563) 383-2316 or bickes@qctimes.com.

Comment on this column at qctimes.com.