Today we’d like to introduce you to Kansas City Pig Rescue.
Hello Kansas City Pig Rescue, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself
Kansas City Pig Rescue Network was founded officially in January 2016, although our co-founders had begun privately funding and fostering pigs 1 or 2 at a time prior to that. Our original team had all become pig parents through this that or the other, and once you become a pet pig owner, you quickly become “the pig person” in your circles. Everyone who knew anyone who had a pig who needed help was brought to our attention individually and we started to see the growing problem continue to snowball. The “teacup/micro/nano” etc. pig craze had boomed and the domesticated pet pig population was out of control. We began pooling our personal funds to provide vet care including spays or neuters to pigs in need of help and found them private family homes. It became clear very quickly that no one else was interested in or even capable of doing what private dog and cat rescue organizations do for pigs, so we decided to give it a whirl. None of us ever imagined that we would grow into the 501c3 non-profit organization that we have, or that we would have over 500 pigs come through our foster program on the way to their forever homes. We have now built a community where all are welcome to come, learn, volunteer, heal and enjoy the pigs. Our goal is to protect, advocate and educate, ensuring each pig has an opportunity to find its forever home.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Of course, it hasn’t! Ha. There is no guide book for what we do. There are many farm animal sanctuary organizations and there are many foster-based rescue organizations for more traditional pets, but there is only a small handful of rescue -> rehabilitation -> adoption style organizations for pigs nationwide. Almost everything we have learned; we have learned by doing through trial and error. We have made many mistakes along the way but we have also learned and grown more than we ever could have anticipated. We hope to continue learning and evolving as long as there is a need for us to exist. There is no precedent for what we do, but we’re doing our best to set one. To develop standards of care, community involvement and events, educational and volunteer opportunities etc. KCPRN is entirely volunteer ran, outside of our “real jobs” and families, although this organization is as full time as it gets. As any rescuer of any species will tell you, this work is 24/7/365. There are no holidays or weekends, and here in the Midwest, the extremes in weather remind us frequently that there are certainly no days off. We are extremely proud of the work we are doing and we hope what we are doing today paves the way for newer organizations and rescuers to join us in this never-ending fight for many many many years to come, having our trials and errors to learn from.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
As a foster-based organization working with non-traditional/farm animals, our job is much like that of dog and cat rescuers… just with more complications (like city zoning ordinances, fewer veterinary options, less general community knowledge, etc.), fewer resources, and less understanding from the public.
We are most proud of the community we have created and the opportunity we have made to allow people to experience these animals in a different kind of environment. Pigs are extremely intelligent, sentient, emotional, curious, resilient beings. Most people have little to no experience with them and those that have had some… have often only experienced them in an agriculture setting. Allowing our pigs to live in environments designs for them to thrive in and sharing that with those who want to know them has been such a pleasure.
We often hear “animals have no voice, so we are their voice” and personally I believe animals do have a voice. We just have to learn how to listen and provide them the opportunity to speak. That is our job! Facilitating opportunity and letting the animals shine.
KCPRN focusing not only on finding wonderful private family homes but also on creating them. We work WITH potential adopters to develop a game plan, execute build-out and preparations and provide lifelong support. Small breed pigs came to the US in the 1980s primarily so they are still fairly new in the grand scheme of things. This is why so much of our focus is on education because frankly there is just a lot to learn!
Who else deserves credit in your story?
Of course. We definitely have a handful of mentors, like our friends at Hog Haven Farm in Deer Trail Colorado. There is a fairly large online community of rescuers working with pigs, and we do a lot of learning from one another. We have also modeled a lot of our program and operations from dog and cat organizations we respect and admire. We are merging two worlds – farmed animal sanctuary work with foster-based domestic animal rescue and adoption. So, there is a lot of mentorships involved in that process. Still, at the end of the day, our success is due almost entirely to our supporters. We have been extremely fortunate to connect with our community both locally and online. They have been with us from the start and continue to show up for us, answer the call when we need help, and trust us to make the difficult decisions and choices we often have to make. Our supporters are our backbone and they keep the ole train rolling. And OF COURSE, our fosters themselves! Angela Jones-Willey of our Willeyville Farm location in Cleveland MO, Stacey Anthius of Circle A Farm in Winston MO, The George Family in Paola KS who care for our special needs pigs plus a handful of private in-home fosters.
Pricing:
- $2,000 MONTHLY on feed
- $5,000 ANNUALLY on straw/hay
- $500/monthly average maintaining fencing/shelters
- $300/pig average for basic veterinary cost
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: kcpigrescuenetwork.org
- Instagram: kcpigrescuenetwork
- Facebook: kcpigrescuenetwork
- Other: linktree.com/kcpigrescuenetwork
