Limpy (deceased)

• Name: Limpy (deceased)
• Species: Feral Hog
• Age: 2 years old
• Weight: 145 lbs
• Sex: Female
• Special Needs: NA.
• Personality: Compassionate and intelligent like her mother Miss Piglet and her Aunt Brownie.  The sweetest disposition and perhaps the smartest of all of the pigs. 
• Favorite Food: Dog treats. Corn
• Family: Miss Piglet-deceased (mother). Brownie (aunt)
• Likes: Dog treats. Learning human words and tricks and watching them react when she does something amazing.
• Dislikes: Dogs.
• Needs: Deceased.

Limpy was one of Miss Piglet’s first litter.  When injured as a piglet, she earned the name Limpy.  Piglet took her everywhere she went and brought her to us to give her extra food and treatment.  This established a relationship that transcended the relationship we had with Miss Piglet.  Limpy was compassionate and smart, so it looked as if she would succeed Piglet as the Doctor Pig.  But her injuries seemed to keep her from taking on this role.  So instead, Limpy became a mother.  She was the most trusting of the pigs and would bring her piglets to us to have us give them treats as she taught them our names and how to learn the times the feeders would dispense the food.  Limpy and her babies were always there when the feeders went off.  One day, as we were handing out dog treats (which we use to dispense medication and will use for the oral vaccines), Limpy came to Mr. Keith and grunted his name for her treats.  She would bump him with her nose if he was not giving her treats when it was her turn.  On a whim, Keith held the dog bone up over Limpy’s head and said “SIT” like you would a dog.  Limpy sat back naturally and was given the bone.  Trying it again, Keith held the bone closer to Limpy’s face and said “SIT”.  Limpy sat back and was given the bone.  Keith then said “SIT” without a bone visible and to our astonishment, Limpy sat down and grunted.  She as given a bone and had learned a new trick.  Keith called Jane to come video Limpy and said “SIT”, which she did without hesitation.  Each day she would come and sit at the gate leading to the stairs until Keith would come down with her treats.  Then she would get up and only sit when he said the word.  Of note, pigs do not normally sit to relax or for any other reason.  This was a deliberate learned action.  Soon we noticed that when we said “SIT”, Limpy’s babies would all sit also.  She had taught them, or they had learned by watching their mother sit for treats.  When the porch area became too crowded with the other pigs coming for treats, Limpy would climb under the stairs and gently pull on Keith’s pant leg to let him know she was under there.  She would not grunt, as to do so would alert the other pigs that the stairs were a good place to get teats.  Even after not being asked to “SIT” for several weeks, Limpy still remembered what the word meant when shown to visitors.  Like her mother, Limpy was a talkative pig, chattering away as she appeared to be telling us about her day or some other conversation. 

Limpy always watched Mr. Keith. One evening she watched with earnest as he mowed the lawn with a small push mower. That night, Limpy came into the garage area, around boxes of equipment, and found the lawn mower. She can be seen on the video below as she pushes the mower out in the yard and then spends a lot of time working with it as if she is trying to start it like Mr. Keith did. You can hear her on the video grunting the pigs’ word for Mr. Keith’s name as if she is either calling for him or talking to herself out loud as if she was pretending to be Mr. Keith.

Unfortunately, Limpy disappeared this winter.  We are assuming she was killed by trespassing hunters. She was a remarkable pig. She will be missed.  We think Gimpy’s Orphan, Little Sister, has the same compassionate temperament as Miss Piglet and Limpy.  So there is hope for our continued research into their intelligence and language comprehension abilities.