Rosa Pig: Former gestation sow, chewer of rocks, lover of life!

We didn’t know what to think when we found them that fateful morning. Two approximately 400-pound pigs nonchalantly and contentedly were rooting in the dirt near our Northern California Shelter’s front entrance. At first, we were worried that there had been a mischievous pig barn break overnight, but it soon became clear that all our sleepy residents were still in bed and that these ladies were new to our soil.

Though we are left to guess how Rosa and her buddy Maya ended up on our doorstep, we could clearly see based on the identification notches in their ears, their docked tails, stretched out nipples, and broken down un-spayed bodies —that they had been gestation sows, who had somehow escaped the fate of millions of others.



As gestation sows, they would have spent much of their life, starting as young as 7 months of age, confined to crates barely larger than their own bodies facing row after row of other gestation sows packed together in a storage shed. There they would have spent each 114-day gestation period before giving birth, getting separated from their babies, and being quickly re-impregnated (via artificial insemination) 2.5 times a year in the name of pork, ham, and bacon. After 2 to 3 years, they would have been considered “spent” and would have been sent to slaughter, following the same fate as their children.

So how did Rosa and her pal appear at our Orland farm? Did someone break them out; did a worker get attached to them and dump them at the shelter instead of taking them to slaughter? We will likely never know, but it was a miracle for us all.



Watching and interacting with Rosa is a joy. She is not only one of the most gentle and kind pigs (former gestation sows usually are) but she is quite comical. If that smile of hers cannot brighten your day nothing can; she mugs like this constantly!

She loves being outdoors and spends her days strolling around our very large pig area, with acres of space including her favorite swimming pond. She is a meticulous gatherer of greens and will pick tiny leaves off of bushes and low trees during the drier season at our Northern California Shelter. She can strip a tree to just branches as long as she can reach them.



Rosa also has a peculiar habit of chewing on rocks. You will rarely see this quirky girl without her mouth full of pebbles. And when she goes for a drink, she drops the stones which make the water unit resemble a goldfish bowl. Once those rocks are in the water unit she is back out collecting more.

As seen above- she can indeed chew rocks, talk and walk at the same time. Rosa is “Some PIG”.



As comical as it is, Rosa’s oral fixation is likely a holdover from her grim past. We’ve seen similar rock-chewing exhibited by other former gestation sows we’ve rescued, who spent so many years gnawing at the bars of their cages to release tension. The intense boredom and frustration pigs suffer in gestation crates have been blamed by researchers for abnormal, neurotic behaviors, like repetitively biting at the bars of the gestation crate or chewing with an empty mouth. These behaviors can lead to additional suffering by causing broken teeth and mouth injuries. Rosa has a whole lot of broken teeth and very soon, as so many of our other pigs have had to do in the past; Rosa will need a dental procedure.



Luckily, Rosa has us on-hand to keep her habit in check; to nurse her wounds, physical and psychological; to see her as someone, not something.

Please share Rosa’s story. Together, we can encourage awareness and understanding about farm animals as someone, not something. With your support we can continue to promote compassionate vegan living through rescue, education, and advocacy efforts. A compassionate world begins with you!