BASTROP, Texas — When you hear "animal rescue," you may think of dogs and cats.
But out on a farm in Bastrop County, there's one rescue organization focusing on another animal that they think needs some help – and now the organization needs help too.
At the Central Texas Pig Rescue (CTPR), volunteers are trying to make connections. Like the connection Dan Illescas feels with pigs.
"Yeah, well, you know, a lot of people like to ask, 'How do you remember all their names?' It's a really simple answer. How do you remember your friends and family's names?" Illescas said.
Illescas started the CTPR in 2016 because he thought too many people were getting pigs as pets, thinking that they would stay small. He said many breeders would tell people a pig was a "teacup" pig, when in reality those don't exist. So, once the pigs started to grow, the owners would become overwhelmed.
"In reality, there's a dog rescue on every corner. Everybody cares about dogs, we're born to [be] caring about dogs. We're born and raised and trained to not care about pigs," Illescas said. "Ninety-four to 97% of all pet pigs are rehomed at some point in their life, and probably north of 90% of those are in the first year of their life."
Most of the pigs at CTPR are from larger animal cruelty seizures. There are more than 230 pigs on their current property, putting them at capacity.
"There's a need for us to do what we do, just on a larger scale to give them more space, give them more natural space," Illescas said. "The expansion property will be 10 to 15 times larger and will ideally have more terrain, more natural environment, trees, possible creek beds to lay in, fields to roam."
That's why CTPR is raising money to get a new place and give the pigs a better connection to their surroundings.
Illescas also said that the connection between the volunteers and the animals is important to him.
"Honestly, our volunteers, if they're having a bad day, they'll come into this pen and do chores because it's really hard to leave this pen in a bad mood," he said. "Every pig here has a name, has a back story ... has a different personality."
Even if it's not a connection most people would think to make, Illescas is hoping it's one more will consider.
"They might look the same to everybody who comes out the first time but, you know, they're not," he said.
If you would like to donate to help CTPR with its new facility, you can click here.
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