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To ‘Stay Small,’ A ‘Mini’ Pig Was Kept Inside A Fish Tank

Beacon was born to a breeder and sold to a family as a “mini pig,” according to the seller. The breeder advised the family that in order to keep Beacon tiny, they should only give him extremely little amounts of food and confine him to a smaller environment to impede his growth. Beacon was confined in a fish tank when his family followed this horrible advice.

Credit: ANNA HOFFMAN

Beacon’s family eventually felt he was too much for them to manage and posted an ad on Craigslist looking for someone to take him in. Someone saw the ad and shared it in a Facebook pig group, and that’s how Beacon’s prospective new family learned about him and decided to assist him.

Anna Hoffman felt she had to assist poor Beacon as soon as she saw the ad and images of him. She already had one pig and had no intention of acquiring another, but Beacon’s position was so severe that she knew she wouldn’t be able to stop thinking about him until he was safe. She and her husband got in their car the next day to go retrieve Beacon.

Credit: ANNA HOFFMAN

“I was in full astonishment when I picked up Beacon,” Hoffman told The Dodo. “The photographs I’d seen were bad, but it was far worse in person.” He couldn’t walk properly since his hooves were around 3 inches long. All you could see was bone since he was so slender. Everything was terrifying to him. I tried offering him a little biscuit to see if he would approach me, but he refused.”

Beacon had been handled so badly that he was scared of everyone and everything, and Hoffman and her husband struggled to get him into a box so they could bring him home with them. They eventually made it work and got Beacon to his new house, and Hoffman hurried him to his new job the next day.

Credit: ANNA HOFFMAN

When Beacon and his new mother arrived at the vet’s clinic, everyone was taken aback by the unfortunate pig’s size and frailty. The vet ran X-rays, blood tests, and a full check on Beacon and was happy to discover that, other from being terribly underweight, he didn’t appear to have any health problems as a result of his maltreatment. However, because Beacon weighed only 11 pounds and had been denied nourishment for so long, Hoffman had to gradually give the proper quantity of food and water to him in order to avoid shocking his system and making him much worse.

Credit: ANNA HOFFMAN

Beacon had serious anxiety and trust difficulties in addition to his weight. He was terrified of his family when he first arrived in his new home, and it took his mother a long time to convince him that he was finally in a secure place where everyone wanted to love him.

Hoffman remarked, “When I initially received him, he was afraid of everyone and everything.” “I sat by his box for hours and hours, talking to him and attempting to pet him. I’d keep his box beside me and leave the door open so he could go outside whenever he wanted.”

Credit: ANNA HOFFMAN

It took a long time and a lot of effort, but Beacon ultimately broke out of his shell and learned to trust again, and he’s now an entirely new pig.

Credit: ANNA HOFFMAN

Beacon is no longer the tiny, timid pig he was when he was rescued, and his demeanor has changed dramatically as well. He’s still a bit jumpy and doesn’t always enjoy being petted, but he adores his new family and spends his days racing about outside, rolling in the grass, and playing with his best buddy, Charlotte, his pig sister.

Credit: ANNA HOFFMAN

“He likes to eat grass,” Hoffman explained. “Probably more than the majority of people. It’s probably because it’s so fresh to him. I don’t think he saw grass in his first two years of life. He finally comes up and rests at or on my feet while I sit outside with them. My heart is warmed by the fact that his tail is always swishing back and forth.”

Credit: ANNA HOFFMAN

Since joining his family, Beacon has gained a lot of weight and is now healthy and happy. His family has gone to great lengths to ensure that he has the finest life possible, including educating the public about “little pigs” and how they aren’t real.

Credit: ANNA HOFFMAN

“Our objective is to raise awareness that there are no such things as’micro,’ ‘teacup’ pigs at every opportunity,” Hoffman added. “That’s just a falsehood told by breeders. Pigs, I like to say, are similar to humans in terms of growth. We don’t know what size or form we’ll be as we grow up, and pigs are no different.”