By Lindsay Doty
In a flurry of bounce houses, Easter activities and wandering youngsters, a large pot-bellied pig named Bebop was an emerging star at the Brownsburg Family Fun Day and Egg Hunt.
The friendly swine is a resident at Oinking Acres Farm, an animal foster center located in Brownsburg.
He was a guest at the community event, along with with a few of his eclectic farm mates including a duck named
Waddles and Juju the sheep, to name a few.
“It’s my family farm and I foster the animals. They are mostly unwanted or abandoned pets,” explains 16-year-old Oinking Acres coordinator Olivia Head. “People get what they think are going to be tiny or ‘Teacup’ pigs and then when the pigs grow, they don’t want them anymore or can’t take care of them.”
The farm fosters pigs through A Critter’s Chance, a non-profit rescue where they take in everything but dogs and cats.
They work closely with animal control and county shelters.
“I’m on the board as the pot-bellied pig foster and adoption coordinator so I have most of the pigs at my farm here in Brownsburg,” Head, who has been volunteering for A Critter’s Chance for two years, said.
She recently started a petting zoo called Olivia’s Oinking Party Pals to offset her passion for pig rescue.
The Town of Brownsburg invited the crew to the egg hunt so kids and adults could mingle with the animals.
Head hopes community events will help raise awareness for responsible animal ownership and rescue.
Since 2016, Oinking Acres has rescued 73 pigs and placed more than 50 of them in adoptive homes. They’ve recently renovated their old dairy farm to serve as pig headquarters.
“I have a huge passion for all God’s creatures, but more specifically pot-bellied pigs. I hope that you will join in my pig fostering journey and my mission to save the world one pig at a time,” she says.
For more information about the cause or Olivia’s Oinking Party Pals, visit the website at oinkingacresfosterfarm.com
