More than a dozen Morgan Hill Future Farmers of America pigs were injured after someone allegedly let them loose over the weekend, only a few weeks before the animals and their student caretakers are scheduled to participate in the county fair.
Morgan Hill FFA member Ellie Fisher said someone trespassed on the local Future Farmers of America farm at Live Oak High School on East Main Avenue overnight July 9, and opened the gates to the enclosure for all 15 pigs. When students showed up at the farm July 10, they saw the pigs running loose around the farm, suffering from various injuries.
Pigs are territorial animals, Fisher explained, and often fight when allowed contact with each other. Some of the pigs likely slipped repeatedly on a concrete floor located outside their enclosure while fighting. As a result, some of the animals are now having trouble walking, and almost all of them ended up with “deep cuts and bruises.”
“We’re hoping they will make a full recovery by the fair, which is in a few weeks,” said Fisher, a junior at Live Oak and a Morgan Hill FFA member who raised one of the pigs since shortly after its birth in March. Her pig suffered the worst injuries, she added.
All 15 pigs are about five to six months old.
The Santa Clara County Fair will take place Aug. 4-7 at the county fairgrounds in San Jose. FFA members at Live Oak are hoping their injured pigs will be healthy enough by then to show them at the fair—an annual highlight that FFA chapters throughout the county look forward to every year.
The students are certain that someone intentionally let the pigs loose, because the animals are enclosed behind a series of fences and gates. The pigs cannot open the gates themselves, Fisher added.
Police have been asked to patrol the area for any potential suspicious activity, and FFA members have asked the public for any information about the vandalism/trespassing.
