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06/20/2008
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Staff photo by David Leaming
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Staff photo by David Leamingfrom the Kennebec Journal
Sport of Kings
New Medicaid billing system inspires doubts among some
Christmas spirit
Guidance counselor: Dismiss complaint based on criticism of same-sex marriage
CHELSEA: 'Practice burn' provides thrill for 9-year-old
Trust eyes orchard purchase
GOLFER OF THE YEAR: Bonenfant rises up Cony ranks
YOUTH SOCCER: Local team gives 'care package' to children in Afghanistan
All of today's:
News | Sports
from the Kennebec Journal
from the Morning Sentinel
YES ON 1 BACKER REBUTS CLAIM
New system for Medicaid payments worries providers
After petition drive, Clinton police force budget will go a third time before voters
A rock musician makes trip home via Black Taxi
MADISON: After revaluation, abatement requests reviewed
Parks to have facelift
GOLFER OF THE YEAR: Sweet does job for Madison
YOUTH SOCCER: Local team gives 'care package' to children in Afghanistan
All of today's:
News | Sports
from the Morning Sentinel
Homeowner Pam Hart lured it with cat food, called it a good pig and tried to get close enough to capture it, but to no avail.
"Come here, I won't hurt you," she crooned, as the charcoal-gray pig slurped noisily, its tail swishing to and fro.
"He doesn't really seem too afraid," she said.
Hart was at work Thursday morning at Maintenance Plus in Winslow where she got three phone calls from friends who had driven past her house and said they saw a pig there.
"They were laughing. They said, 'Did you know you had a black pig on your lawn, eating?' I came home and he was standing right there by the birch tree, just grazing."
Hart called the Police Department, hoping an animal control officer might come and capture the pig.
"I was afraid he might start eating the flowers or the shrubs or he might end up in the pond -- who knows? Of course, I wouldn't want him to go out in the road and get hit."
As she waited and watched and the pig continued to munch, Hart's son Jerry arrived in his pickup truck. He lives on nearby Dusty Lane and his wife, Bridget, had called him to report a pig had just wandered up the path to his mother's house.
"It's been a long time since there were pigs on this property," Jerry Hart mused. "We used to raise pigs out back. You want to talk about somebody trying to catch a pig -- they're like a rabbit. They cut on a dime. If you chase 'em, the next thing you know, they're heading the other way."
When an animal control officer did not arrive more than an hour later, Pam Hart said she had to return to work.
"Keep grazing and I won't have to mow the lawn," she told the pig.
The swine, ears flapping, eventually trotted down the hill and over a little bridge to the neighbor's lawn and then headed to a vacant house next door.
Jerry Hart, owner of Hart construction, drove there in his pickup truck, got out, and fed the pig with dog treats he plucked from inside a plastic bag.
"I keep them with me when I go on job sites," he explained.
The pig approached Hart whenever he tossed a morsel and then retreated to munch. Back and forth it went, for another half-hour, with the pig occasionally scratching its head with a rear hoof.
"I'm almost out," Hart said of the dog treats. "I've got to get back to work."
With that, he drove off, leaving the pig looking. The animal waited a while and then trotted back toward Pam Hart's house where there was more cat food on the lawn. As of Thursday evening, the pig's whereabouts were unknown.
It is unknown who actually owns the gray Vietnamese pot-bellied pig, which left Colby in late May after some students apparently took it to a campus cookout and it slipped its leash.
Colby spokesman Stephen Collins said he would try to find someone at the campus' physical plant who might be able to help capture the pig Thursday, but he could not make any promises.
"Can you grab it?" Collins asked. "What I've heard is that he's tame enough so you can feed him by hand, and as soon as your other hand moves as if to grab him, he's gone."
Uh-huh.
Amy Calder -- 861-9247
acalder@centralmaine.com
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