RSPCA put down my sick pet pig without telling me

THE owner of one of the world’s oldest pigs spoke of his fury after the RSPCA put down his sick animal without letting him say goodbye – then prosecuted him for not having had it done himself.

Mr Pig the pigCOLLECT/BNPS

Mr Pig was Mr Skinner's only companion and lived at his bed-and-breakfast in Dorset

Mr Pig, a 20-year-old porker, was Bob Skinner’s “only companion” and lived on his own island connected by a bridge over a pond in the garden.

He lived in a specially-built ark at Mr Skinner’s idyllic old mill cottage – a bed-and-breakfast in Corfe Mullen, Dorset.

The animal was a star attraction with numerous online reviews singing its praise.

But when Mr Pig, believed to be the world’s oldest kunekune pig, developed cancer on his face Mr Skinner, 63, treated it by bathing it and did not go to the vet.

The RSPCA was tipped off. Officials seized the pig and had him destroyed without informing Mr Skinner. The first he heard about it was while he was being interviewed by RSPCA officers.

Under a prosecution brought by the society, Mr Skinner admitted causing unnecessary suffering. After the case, he said: “He was an absolutely amazing pig.”

He was ugly, “always smelled bad and could be mischievous, but I really, really loved him, and so did everyone who met him”.

He hit out at the society’s handling of the case, adding: “It is absolutely criminal and they shouldn’t have done it.

“How can they just come on to my property and take away my pig without me being there?”

They came and took him and kept him alive for three or four days. Then suddenly halfway through their interview with me they told me they had put him down.

“They didn’t even let me say goodbye, and those are the most important moments.”

They didn’t even let me say goodbye, and those are the most important moments

Mr Skinner

Mr Skinner said he had spent £200 on a headstone and plans to have the pig cremated.

An RSPCA spokeswoman said: “It was obvious to anyone who saw Mr Pig that he had a horrible painful injury, and yet he was not taken to a vet. He was left to suffer for almost a month.”

She added: “The RSPCA attempted to contact the owner several times over 24 hours before the pig was put to sleep but no response was received.”

Mr Skinner was given a 24-month conditional discharge, with £1,000 costs and a £15 victim surcharge.

Edward Foster, defending the former pet-shop owner, told magistrates in Bournemouth, Dorset, that he had been intending to have his pet put down.

But he struggled to come to terms with losing his ‘‘only companion’’.

He said: “The oldest recorded kunekune pig was 19. The only way to get a pig to that age is by taking very good care of it.”

Magistrates said there were no reasons to impose a ban on him owning animals in the future. They were satisfied there had been ‘‘no malicious intent’’. 

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