Tennessee Police Officers Take Escapee Pig Home After She Disrupts Traffic

Police officers in Tennessee took a pig that escaped from her home back to her owners after she disrupted traffic.

The video showing the pig scampering on the roadway was published on Dec. 4 by the Mt. Juliet Police Department.

“We love our farm animal calls, especially a call of a pig stopping traffic on Lebanon Rd. Officers responded and found Dottie, who escaped from her home on York Road. Officers were able to successfully reunite Dottie with her family,” the department stated on Facebook.

The footage showed the pig walking on the roadway near a police vehicle, with one car stopped in the opposite direction. The pig sniffed the vehicle’s tire and kept moving.

It then halted its movement as it approached officers from another vehicle, and tried to run away from them.

“Good piggy. Where you going?” one officer can be heard saying.

Three officers herded the pig into a field next to the road and eventually back to its house nearby.

Users React

Facebook users reacted to the footage.

“They need to get the piggie microchipped!” said one.

“She looks like a giant guinea pig when she runs in the grass,” said another.

“Look at that tail wagging!! So sweet,” said another.

“Oh how funny_thank you for using all that hidden talent. BTW, is this in your job descriptions?? MJPD, the best!!!” said another.

“My wife and I love you all! Thank you for your service to our community!” added another.

“Uh oh...need to start carrying a backup box of Cheerios in the cars. Thanks for caring. I’d be freaking out of one of my pigs escaped,” said another.

“You all are the best. Thank you for taking great care of the folks in your neighborhood. I expect that there are a lot of people who love this sweet pig,” said another.

Hogs are raised on the farm of Ted Fox on near Osage, Iowa. July 25, 2018. Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images

Pigs in the United States

As of June 2017, there were 71.7 million hogs and pigs on U.S. farms, up three percent from June 2016, reported the USDA.

Continued growth in the industry was expected.

“All we are talking about is the magnitude and rate of growth. We are all settling into the growth mode. It is simply a question of how fast,” stresses Joseph Kerns, president at Kerns & Associates, told the National Hog Farmer. While demand stayed flat in the United States, an increasing number of exports fueled the farm expansions.

In September, the USDA said that Iowa alone had 23.6 million pigs on farms, reported the Associated Press, as the number of pigs in the whole country increased to 75.5 million.

In addition to farm-raised pigs, there are a number of wild pigs.

Pigs are not native to the United States; they were first introduced to what is now the southeastern U.S. by Spanish explorer Hernando DeSoto, according to Mississippi State University. Some of the pigs went wild.

In the early 1900s, the Eurasian wild boar was introduced into parts of the United States for hunting purposes; some of the pigs and wild boar interbred.

Wild pigs are now reported across the country, although most are in Texas, the southeast, and California.

From NTD News