Gimpy’s Story

• Name: GIMPY
• Species: Feral Hog
• Age: 2 years old
• Weight: 225 lbs
• Sex: Male (castrated)
• Special Needs: Limited in mobility from Brucellosis and interaction with hunters and dogs.
• Personality: Most likely cognitively Impaired from Brucellosis. He thinks he is a piglet but has taken on the role as a protector of three orphaned piglets
• Favorite Food: Peanuts and dog bone treats
• Family: Solo. Orphaned when young. Has adopted three orphans as his sounder.
• Likes: Soaking in the Pig Pond and napping in soft dirt which helps to overcome his painful hip and ankle joints. Playing with his piglets and teaching them how to be big pigs like him.
• Dislikes: All Dogs. All Humans (except that nice lady that feeds me treats and that man with her)
• Needs: Temporary shelter in the cold. Antibiotics. Brucellosis cure. Pain relief. Fenced land to keep hunters away.

Gimpy is by far one of our favorites and the most needy.  Although he would never think that.  He knows he is different and not as fast or as agile as the other pigs, but he has learned he is strong and fearless.  When he adopted the three orphaned pigs, even in his own wounded state, it was enough to make us cry.  He is truly a cherished member of our pack. 

If you chose to Donate or Adopt in his name, we will take your donation and use it to give him and his new family a better life.

Thanks so much!

Gimpy’s Story

Gimpy was born into a litter of five piglets in 2024. He lived a carefree first few months of his life as his family found our facility and learned that it was a safe place despite always being watched by the researchers there. Gimpy played with his brothers and sisters with toys provided by the researchers. his favorite toy was the soccer ball that the #2 Boar White Foot claimed as his. It was fun to try to take it from White Foot and run away as he tried to chase you, pretending to be mad. The piglets all knew White Foot was just playing with them and training them for their life as a boar in the sounder.

But around the time his mother started to wean him and his siblings, Gimpy noticed his back and leg were hurting, He could not run as fast as the other piglets. Soon he was suffering from migraine headaches and his leg became twisted and gnarled. He could no longer walk on his feet and had to walk on his ankles. This was very hard as wild pigs must run from danger and they traveled miles everyday and night between their favorite feeding areas, mud holes, ponds and sleeping areas.

Gimpy had contracted Brucellosis, a disease that is rampant among feral hog populations. This disease causes deformities of the hip and legs and often ends in the death of young male pigs. Most female pigs survive for several years after contracting it, but even their lifespan is shortened. When we saw Gimpy, we figured he would not survive the next few months. If the disease did not kill him, his handicap would make him easy prey from predators like bears or bobcats, or from hunters.

We gave Gimpy extra care when we could. We made a temporary shelter under our facility for him to rest in during heavy rains or the cold of the winter. We gave him vitamins and special treats to build up his immune system. We kept the older pigs from bullying him too much. And even White Foot took him under his protection and disciplined any of the other male pigs that tormented or fought Gimpy. To our surprise, Gimpy got stronger and became a mature adult. Although physically impaired, he grew great strength in his upper body to overcome his lack of mobility in his rear legs. This served him well in mock battles and real challenges from other boars as most of a hog’s fighting is pushing and shoving with their front shoulders. Soon Gimpy rose to the rank of #4 boar in the pecking order.

One of the direct effects of the disease was an apparent hindering of Gimpy’s mental development. We noticed that he seemed to think he was still a little piglet, despite achieving a weight of nearly 200 pounds. He played with the other piglets and his deep voice could be heard grunting and “laughing” as the piglets climbed all over him and tried to get him to chase them. Playing tag with “Uncle Gimpy” was always the highlight of every litter of piglets. It seemed that all of the pigs understood Gimpy’s impairments and looked upon him as a member of their individual family. Everyone protected him and waited for him if he was hurting and fell behind. He lived a fairly good life for nearly three years. And despite a rather close encounter with having a bear sniff his backside, had not encountered any large predators that would threaten him.

But then, in February 2026, Gimpy was cornered and captured by hunters who were trespassing on private property. Gimpy had his ears nearly bitten off as “catch dogs” held him against his will while these human hunters took him and castrated him without any anesthesia, antibiotics or even sterilizing their knives. It was a barbaric attempt at controlling the pig population. The hunters released Gimpy. Hurting badly, bleeding and not understanding what just happened to him, Gimpy staggered back to our facility. The other pigs were there, clearly agitated that hunters were in the area but feeling safe in our care.

We heard a crying like we had never heard.  It was like a baby piglet crying for its mother but in a deeper voice.  The sound was so unnerving that we went out on our deck to investigate.  There we saw all of the pig sounders standing in a circle and each grunting and nose kissing with Gimpy trying to soothe him.  When he cried more and more, the #1 Sow, Fat Mama started getting really agitated.  Fat Mama is a good mother, and very protective of the little piglets.  She showed her courage and leadership one night when The Bear sauntered through the yard.  Fat Mama growled and huffed and charged towards The Bear chasing it away.   Now on this night we heard Fat Mama’s voice change to the same anger and energy she demonstrated when the bear was here.  Soon she energized all of the pigs and they all grunted her War Chant.  It was as if the entire pack of 40 hogs, pigs, and piglets were seriously angered that ANYONE could hurt their Gimpy. 

Fat Mama started running in a circle around Gimpy, with the circles getting bigger and gathering up more and more of the herd.  The tone of her voice and her body language showed that she was out for blood.  She was going to find the DOGS that did this to their Gimpy and they were all going to take them on.  Soon the circling group went completely around our house and into the woods, re-emerging as the concentric circles increased in size.  When the pigs passed us, Fat Mama called out, as if to ask us to join in.  Just prior to Gimpy showing up, we had captured one of the hunting dogs that came into our yard and returned them over to the trespassing hunters, all within view of the pigs. We are sure Fat Mama saw this and now was offering us the chance to finish the task and find all of the dogs.  At no time did we feel the pigs were a threat to us, but we did stay clear of the group as they passed nearby on each circle.

Soon, Fat Mama and the War Party had disappeared in the swamp.  They all returned the next morning to eat, then Fat Mama took them away again.  We have not seen them since.  We assume that Fat Mama, CoCo and Brownie all felt that their sanctuary had been breached by the hunters and with Gimpy being hurt, they feared for the safety of their piglets and their sounders.

Gimpy stayed behind as he could barely walk and was bleeding.  He laid down in one of his favorite shade retreats under our porch stairs.  Our facility is built on 9 foot high stilts to survive river flooding and hurricanes.  This gave Gimpy a comfortable resting area.  As he lay there we offered him treats and we tried to assess how bad he was hurt.  But he didn’t want any treats.  This was unlike Gimpy and showed how much pain he was in.  We know that Gimpy is in constant pain with his twisted and arthritic leg, but he still walked, ran, played and did everything a feral hog is supposed to do.  This new pain must have been so much more than he had felt before.

It was heart wrenching to hear him crying.  With his mental impairment, we guessed that he just could not understand what had happened and why he was hurting so much.  It must have been extreme as his ears lay in tatters and the wounds from his castration were swollen and bleeding.

Eventually, Gimpy staggered in to the woods nearby and found a safe place to recover.

The next night we did not see Gimpy.  And the females and piglets did not return, but the large boars, who traveled in their own sounder returned. Two nights later Gimpy showed up to eat a little and rest. 

Almost a week from when Fat Mama began her exodus, Gimpy came through the woods with three piglets in tow.  We recognized the littlest one as the little runt boar piglet that was orphaned when Fawnie died a few days before and was adopted by Fat Mama.  The middle one, a little black female, was one of CoCo’s litter.  We noticed both of her ears had been ripped off, probably by the hunting dogs. The oldest, a little brown female, was one of Fat Mama’s babies.  They had been separated from their mothers, either during the dog chase, or afterwards when Fat Mama hurried the pack out of the area.  None of these three pigs had been weaned, but they had been eating solid food since they were just a few days old.  They were obviously glad to be with Gimpy as they had surely been alone and afraid for several days.

We have a video of the piglets climbing all over Gimpy, just happy he was there.  You could see he was still in serious pain when they bit his sore ears and climbed on his back.  Yet he didn’t say a word or move out of their way. 

Gimpy grew up at that point.  He became the “mother” and protector of these three piglets.  He keeps them safe and brings them to water and food like a good mother should.  We noticed he became a lot more alert and concerned about any sound or movement.  But he does still play with the babies.  They love the “hop on Gimpy” game and the “wake the growling monster” game.  He loves playing and has been seen doing “zoomies’ with the piglets, spinning around in fast circles until you fall down.  Although Gimpy usually falls on the first circle. 

Gimpy and the Orphans: Little Man, Little Sister, and Big Sis, live in their own sounder, but cousins like Ranger and Van Gogh sometimes travel with them.  Gimpy has recovered from his wounds, but he is slowing a lot lately, taking more rest breaks now that the orphans are getting bigger and more independent.  We are concerned that Gimpy is suffering from the later stages of the Brucellosis that crippled him.