The story of Esther the Wonder Pig has captured the hearts and imaginations of millions of people worldwide, so when rumours began to circulate that she was gravely ill her fans were concerned.
“Esther is nine years old and has definitely had her share of complications,” said Derek Walters, executive director of the Happily Ever Esther Farm Sanctuary in Campbellville. “The past couple weeks, she’s been having ataxic pain in her rear end.”
They knew something was wrong when the typically playful pig was unwilling to get up and struggled to move whenever she did.
“She was walking funny and not able to poop and stuff, which can be life threatening on its own, and we almost moved her to the hospital,” said Walters. “The hospital was convinced we could manage it at home and that it was a pain issue and not an organ rupturing or something serious like that. We ruled all of these things out.”
They scheduled x-rays and further tests and decided Esther needed time to relax and recuperate away from the spotlight, but that only fuelled speculation and rumours
“Steve and Esther do this thing we call cameo videos for people where you can sign up and get a birthday greeting,” said Walters. “Having a camera in her face didn’t seem like the right thing to do when she wasn’t feeling good. We had to stop doing that and that raised a lot of questions about what was happening. Is Esther okay?”
He wants everyone to know they will spare no expense to keep Esther happy and healthy.
Walters and his partner Steve Jenkins bought Esther shortly after she was born in the summer of 2012. She weighed about 2 kg at the time and they were told she was a micro pig that wouldn’t get much larger.
They would eventually learn the truth about Esther when a veterinarian identified her as a commercial pig that would, indeed, get much, much larger.
In fact, there was a period of time when Esther was growing at a rate of roughly a pound per day until she reached her present adult weight of around 270kg.
“Most people are scared of pigs and rightfully so,” said Walters. “They are huge, but they can be just as gentle as a cat.”
Esther proved to be gentle, loving and very smart but she quickly outgrew their home in the city. Walters and Jenkins couldn’t imagine their lives without her, so they started looking for a home in the country where they could all live happily ever after.
They documented and shared their journey with Esther and she quickly became a social media sensation. Her fame spread to the mainstream media thrusting Esther into the role of ambassador for farmed animals worldwide and Walters and Jenkins into the spotlight as animal rights activists. They became advocates for adopting a vegan diet and vocal critics of the meat processing industry.
Their concept of kind activism focuses on promoting empathy and draws attention to the physical and emotional needs of individual animals destined for the slaughterhouse – animals just like Esther.
“I didn’t come to the realization that I shouldn’t eat animals because someone painted me, stickered me, called me out, shouted at me or picketed me,” said Walters. “I came to these realizations by meeting Esther.”
They raise funds and awareness for their cause through sales of the New York Times best-selling book Esther the Wonder Pig, The Adventures of Esther the Wonder Pig children’s book and other Esther-related merchandise as well as through direct fundraising efforts and in 2014 they purchased a farm in Campbellville, south of Guelph.
The Happily Ever Esther Farm Sanctuary, as the name suggests, provides sanctuary to rescued farm animals and offers members of the public an opportunity to visit with Esther and dozens of other pigs, cows, horses, donkeys, goats, sheep, chickens, peacocks, ducks and rabbits that were destined to be butchered or euthanized.
“That connection alone is what lacks so much from the grocery store aisle to actually seeing a farmed animal looking you in the eye,” said Walters. “People need to come to that realization all on their own and the best way we can do that is through kind activism. You know sanctuary is activism. We hope that the most amount of people can connect that way.”
They schedule regular private tours as well as special events, but the pandemic has forced them to close the farm to visitors.
“It has definitely affected our bottom line,” said Walters. ”Thankfully, Happily Ever Esther Farm Sanctuary is, for the most part, an online sanctuary. We started, online, and we have quite a devout following from people from 90 countries. A large number of them are Canadians and a great deal are from the States, but it reaches all corners of the globe.”
Supporters are invited to visit online and join the sanctuary residents for upcoming live Zoom events.
“We’re having pancakes with the goats on Shrove Tuesday,” said Walters. “In the summer we have a pizza party to honour Esther’s birthday on Canada Day. That is a virtual pizza party where we order a hundred pizzas and we put them all over the fields and we let the residents go out and destroy the pizzas.”
Everyone is hopeful Esther will have recovered sufficiently by then to join in the celebration.
“We figure it is musculoskeletal pain that was causing her so much discomfort and we are going to schedule an exploratory scan of her spine at OVC,” said Walters. “We have an acupuncturist coming regularly and fortunately the pain management regiment we are under now is providing her with enough comfort to be able to stand and move around.”
That is good news for everyone that has been inspired by Esther’s story and the message of Peace Love and Esther promoted by Walters, Jenkins and the rest of the HEEFS community.
“We’re not entertaining any tours or any media relations – just keeping as low-key as we can until we have more to go on,” said Walters. “There is so much uncertainty, but I hope when it gets safe and everyone is healthy the gates will open up and you are able to come and check it out.”
For more on Esther’s story and the sanctuary visit: https://www.estherthewonderpig.com or https://www.happilyeveresther.ca
