iN VIDEO: Nothing Happier: Pigs return to mud of Shuswap sanctuary after wildfire
There is a lot to celebrate at an animal sanctuary in the Shuswap as every day more animals are returning home from being evacuated and things are slowly starting to get back to normal.
Diane Nicholson, owner of Twin Heart Animal Sanctuary in Tappen, is finally getting a chance to breathe after evacuating her rescued animals to safety from the threat of the Bush Creek East wildfire, and then getting them all hauled back within roughly two weeks.
“It has been exhausting and expensive and stressful but we did it, I’m so relieved,” she said. “When we evacuated, everything was dry and crisp, but even the grass is greener now.”
Nicholson’s relief comes in the wake of a harrowing few days when the sanctuary was on alert status and she made the decision to evacuate when the wildfire blew up on Aug. 18.
“I hadn’t had much sleep and was having a bit of a nap when I woke up to my dad calling that the fire in Sorrento and Turtle Valley looks bad and I might want to get out. The smoke had suddenly billowed in and when you have this many animals you have to plan ahead, you can’t just move them all at once.”
The evacuation took two full days and two full nights and was made possible by the help of volunteers loading up and hauling the farms animals to safer locations.
“I so appreciate everybody who got ahold of me and offered help,” Nicholson said. “I just posted a thing on an emergency page for hauling livestock and people came out of the woodwork all through the night. I was running on adrenaline, the smoke was thick and choking.”
Nicholson’s birds went to Warren Peace Bunny Sanctuary in Lake Country and the rest went to Forever Home Sanctuary in Vernon.
The animals were kept safe and healthy at the sanctuary in Vernon where Nicholson went almost every day to give some the animals medication. Two of them, the pigs, were not well.
“The pigs were really depressed for the first little while, they are very sensitive animals, a lot of people don’t realize that,” she said. “Pigs are just below apes and dolphins in intelligence. They don’t deal with change easily and were grieving."
The pigs were being well taken care of but there was one thing missing – the thing they love the most – their muddy wet wallow.
“Pigs don’t sweat so they can get overheated, when they get to the mud, it’s like ‘oh yea.’ It’s their favourite thing.”
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The two giant pigs were rescued as piglets seven years ago and over the years created a wallow with an island in the middle. The pigs appeared to be the most joyful of the farm animals to return home — snorting, splashing in water and burying themselves in mud. Nicholson caught the homecoming on camera.
“I made sure there was lots of water in their wallow right before they got home because I knew that would be the first place they’d go,” Nicholson said.
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Only one animal at the sanctuary still hasn’t come home, and that is Forrest, a 3,000-pound steer. He is due back this week.
Nicholson said she is beyond grateful for the helpers and the sanctuaries.
“My heart goes out to those who didn’t have time to collect their animals, it’s heartbreaking,” she said.
Twin Heart Animal Sanctuary is a non-profit and relies on donations to rescue and care for animals.
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