The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call for an escaped pig on the afternoon of Dec. 29 in Somerville. Before officers arrived on scene, local residents and Good Samaritans had wrangled the pig, returning it safely to its owners.
Nibbles, a 150-pound pig that Evan Morrison’s son caught in a pig scramble at the Union Fair last summer, escaped from a pen that Morrison built on his property on Rt. 17 in Somerville.
“When he caught the pig, I wanted to sell it, but the kids wouldn’t hear any of it, so I built a pen out of pallets,” Morrison said.
After breaking free, Nibbles made it about a quarter mile down Rt. 17 before being spotted by Somerville resident Darlene Landry and her daughter, driving home along Rt. 17.
“My daughter looked up and said, ‘Oh, my God, Mama! It’s a pig!'” Landry said. “He was moving pretty good. It was funny, in the middle of winter, to see a big pink pig running down the side of the road.”
Landry reported the pig to the LCSO, but before they arrived, Wayne Kirkpatrick stopped and lassoed the pig with a towing strap.
Kirkpatrick, a resident of Union, was on his way back to work at Hammond Tractor in Union when he saw the pig in the middle of Rt. 17.
Kirkpatrick tied the pig to the bumper of his pickup truck, “but he didn’t exactly like that,” Kirkpatrick said. It wasn’t until another local resident arrived, whose name Kirkpatrick didn’t know, that they got the pig under control.
“He grabbed him right by the tail,” Kirkpatrick said. “Apparently, when you get a pig by the tail, they don’t want to go anywhere.”
After some time, Nibbles was returned to the Morrison’s property, but he escaped two more times that afternoon and evening, Morrison said.
“After the third time I realized how he was getting out,” Morrison said, “I didn’t know a pig could jump a three-foot fence.”
Morrison built up the fence and Nibbles has stayed put since.
Although Morrison said he planned to eat Nibbles at some point when he’s bigger, “the kids have gotten attached to him now. So I don’t know how that’s going to go down.”
“He’s the friendliest pig you’ve ever seen,” Morrison said. “He follows you around like a dog, rubbing against your leg and nibbling at your shoelaces.”
Morrison thanked his neighbors for their help, and said he was amazed at how willing people are to stop and help.
The third time Nibbles escaped, he was caught by “two young women in skirts,” Morrison said. “They wrestled him right up to the house.”
Somerville residents were happy to have the ordeal come to a close.
“We’ll see what kind of mess we can get into next week,” Landry said, “but the pig is no longer a threat to the community.”
