Man's mission to find pet pig listed for sale online
A Queensland man has been reunited with his former pet pig who went missing after her new owners listed her for sale as a breeding pig on Gumtree, despite claiming they would keep her as a pet.
Animal lover Dan raised his pet Picnic from a squealing piglet to a big three-month-old in his inner-city apartment.
When Picnic outgrew Dan's place, she was rehomed to a friend's property, where fellow pig Pepper came along.
READ MORE: Tribunal sides with tenants after landlord's cameras follow their every move
Former owner Dan was reunited with Picnic when she was sold to Gaia's Serenity animal sanctuary. Nine
"We had someone reach out and they expressed that they would, you know, care for them as pets," Dan said.
In a text message to Dan, the new owner told him she was "so pleased you are trusting me with your beautiful animals".
"They are going to be so loved here. My kids are very excited to meet them," the woman's text read.
Dan paid the family to take care of Pepper and Picnic at their home two hours west of the Sunshine Coast.
But when Dan tried to visit them, the family went radio silent.
Animal lover Dan raised his pet Picnic from a squealing piglet to a big three-month-old in his inner-city apartment. Nine
Then he found an ad for two pigs he was convinced were Pepper and Picnic on reselling website Gumtree.
"That sort of threw me into a little bit of a panic ... and yeah, it's just was against everything that we'd spoken about," Dan said.
Dan messaged the family a number of times, begging to buy the pigs back.
He even took his desperate plea to a community Facebook group, where a woman came forward claiming she was the person who had purchased the pigs.
Thankfully the woman was happy for Dan to buy Pepper and Picnic back, and he found them a new home at Gaia's Serenity animal sanctuary on the Gold Coast.
The original family who sold the pigs agreed to meet with Gaia's Serenity founder Gareth to negotiate Picnic's return. Nine
But in a case of mistaken identity, it turns out the pig the woman bought was not Picnic.
"I just want Picnic back," Dan said.
"It's consumed my life for over a month now, like I've just been obsessed with getting her back, losing sleep."
READ MORE: 'The rain just keeps coming': Ingham residents trapped by floodwaters
Former owner Dan was reunited with Picnic when she was sold to Gaia's Serenity animal sanctuary. Nine
The original family who sold the pigs agreed to meet with Gaia's Serenity founder Gareth to negotiate Picnic's return.
"They ended up charging $5000 to get her...it feels like a ransom,"
Contented Pig Inn owner Kathie Anderson called the family's decision to sell the pigs "disgraceful".
"I think lying upfront about why you want someone's animal and then getting them to fork out that sort of money," Anderson said.
"I wish I'd met Dan before he rehomed them, we do try and help people with the right questions, we ask them to spend a lot of time getting to know people, going out and doing property visits, looking at their social media."
If you want to follow Picnic and Pepper's journey, click here.
We’d love to hear from you
