GRANBY, Mass. (WWLP) – After being missing for several months, Pickles the Pig has tragically passed away.
According to Granby Animal Control, Pickles was struck by a car near the intersection of Lyons and Carvers Streets in Granby on Thursday evening and did not survive.
Pickles was just a piglet when he escaped from his owner’s home on Crestview Drive in Belchertown this August. For the past three months, Pickles has been living in the woods and evading capture, even when lured by his favorite food… donuts.
Catherine Ann, who owned Pickles, was not up for speaking about on camera. She sent the following statement, “I newly adopted Pickles and didn’t have him for long, but his little snorts warmed my heart… We are all very sad and grieving the loss of Pickles. He has become quite the multi-town celebrity.”
The intersection is about three miles from where Pickles originally escaped. Stephanie Kennedy works down the road from the intersection at Red Fire Farm. She was one of the last people to see Pickles alive Thursday afternoon. She her team at the farm have been tracking his whereabouts.
“We were kinds of routing for Pickles because we know he’s down there and we’ve seen him a bunch of times, so yesterday we were really hopeful that hopefully they were going to get him,” said Kennedy.
Kennedy and her team were not alone, many people in the community were tracking Pickles and posting updates on his whereabouts. According to reports, Pickles had grown, so it appeared he was finding plenty to food during his journey.
Belchertown resident Dave Eyerman said maybe Pickles was were he should be, “Pickles was thriving outside. He spent a lot of time, probably a couple of months out on his own, out in the world. Clearly was able to find food and lived a happy life. I obviously don’t know that he was happy but, you know, he survived just fine and there were a lot of messages that he didn’t want to come home, he was evading humans, he was evading traps. I think there’s a sense of what a lovely retirement.”
The town of Granby extends its gratitude to all the parties involved in the ongoing efforts to locate Pickles over the past several months.
To quote E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web… Pickles was some pig.
WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 providing local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Follow 22News on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
