It’s a simple little love story between two men and a pig that started with one big lie.
Steve Jenkins and life partner Derek Walter were sharing a small Georgetown home with roommates four years ago when they saw a post on Facebook regarding a mini pig that wasn’t getting along with a family and needed a new home.
A “mini pig” that “would not be bigger than 70 pounds” said the post.
Jenkins and Walter decided “why not” and Esther The Wonder Pig became part of their family.
Little did they know at the time that Esther The Wonder Pig would change their lives forever, becoming the motivation for both of them to quit their jobs and start Happily Ever Esther Farm Sanctuary south of Guelph.
Or that Esther The Wonder Pig would become a worldwide social media phenomenon, with her own book, t-shirts, 900,000 followers on Facebook, 264,000 followers on Instagram and 32,000 followers on Twitter.
Back then it was just a cute little pet. But the “little” part didn’t last long.
“Mini pigs actually don’t really exist. It was a word they used to fool us,” said Walter sitting at the table inside a trailer that serves as the office at Happily Ever Esther Farm Sanctuary.
Esther turned out to be a regular Yorkshire pig that began growing at the rate of a pound a day. Within 15 months she was over 400 pounds.
But it was too late. Jenkins and Walter were in love, won over by Esther to the point that the “three times a day” meat eaters became vegans.
“Pigs are one of the cleanest, smartest animals on the planet,” Walter said. “It’s really quite amazing how smart they are.”
Then everyone else fell in love with Esther.
With friends and family constantly asking how Esther was doing, Jenkins started Esther’s own Facebook page, showing her doing various silly things in various costumes and props.
A legend was born.
Overnight the pig’s Facebook page got 800 likes. In three days it had 8,000 and in three months 100,000. As they say, Esther went viral.
Jenkins and Walter knew they couldn’t live in a shared city house with a 400 pound pig for long. So Jenkins quit his job as a realtor and Walters quit his as a professional magician and they chased the dream of starting a farm sanctuary.
With the help of a Indigogo fundraising campaign that raised $440,000, they purchased the 100 acre farm near Cambelleville that is now home to Happily Ever Esther Farm Sanctuary.
There are 44 rescued animals at the farm, but only Esther has house access.
Jenkins said their lives have been transformed.
“Things happened so quickly, the last four years are an absolute blur,” Jenkins said.
“From becoming vegan to the public figure that Esther has become to being here on this farm. We never expected this to happen,” he said.
They both say it’s wonderfully strange, how it all has happened and how Esther struck a chord with people.
“It’s something relatable, something people like, because it’s a full-sized pig that lives in the house,” Walter says of the attraction.
“She sleeps on the couch. She sleeps on the bed, she can open the fridge and gets into all types of shenanigans. She’s part of the family and people are attracted to that.”
Esther even has her own book, which sold 21,000 copies in the United States alone since coming out in June. It is now available in several languages, including Japanese and German.
Things grew so big that Jenkins and Walter had to split duties: Walter looks after the farm operations and Jenkins the Esther The Wonder Pig side of things.
They just got back from meeting with their book publisher in New York.
They employ five full-time employees, including one who looks after the Esther online store, and have a large group of volunteers who help keep Happily Ever Esther Farm Sanctuary, which is a registered charity, running smoothly. There is also a board of directors.
Esther is the advocate for a plant-based lifestyle, Walter says, but is more than that.
“She shines the light softly,” he says.
Happily Ever Esther Farm Sanctuary takes animals that would otherwise be killed. Goats, rabbits, sheep, cows, pigs a donkey and a horse all live there. But first they try to find another home for the animals.
There are lots of calls for help and animals are turned around “every day” says Walter.
Happily Ever Esther’s location is only given out to visitors who register online for one of the irregular open houses that are posted on the web site and sell out quickly. This year there have been 2,000 visitors so far.
Walter said they learned quickly from other farm sanctuaries that revealing location leads to lots of animals being left tied up to the farm gate.
Walter said the best thing the farm sanctuary can do is educate people.
“Our goal is to save as many animals as possible and that’s how we can save the most animals, by education,” he said. “That’s how we can keep animals off the plate.”
More on the farm sanctuary and Esther can be found at www.happilyeveresther.ca.
