After a highway police pursuit and weeks of wallowing at the pound, Donald the pig has a new home – but his fortune will be short-lived.
By Rebecca Hogan of Local Democracy Reporting
The roughly 80kg pig sold for $320 on Wednesday afternoon after being picked up by police on the Eketāhuna highway, State Highway 2, and held by the Tararua District Council since June 17.
Around half a dozen people attended the auction at the pound in Dannevirke, with two different groups bidding to bring home the bacon. The auction price started at $150.
Under the Impounding Act 1955, the council was legally required to hold an auction if the pig remained unclaimed and his pound fees unpaid beyond June.
If Donald wasn't sold at the auction, the council was then legally required to "dispose" of the pig.
The winners said Donald would be bacon within the next few months but, before they ate him, the bruises he acquired from his fall would have to heal first.
The council worker running the auction, Elaine Vermeer, said they assumed Donald must have fallen off or jumped from a stock truck before police found him on June 17.
He was "a pig who did not know how to be a pig" rather than someone's pet, she said.
Tararua mayor Scott Gilmore said he hadn’t "had the pleasure" of meeting Donald but had helped come up with the pig’s name.
Peppa was one option, but Gilmore said Donald was the name the pig reacted to most.
He was happy Donald had been sold for $320, as winnings would go towards Donald’s vet bills, not into council funds "although, it would have been nice if we could’ve hammed up the bidding a little", Gilmore joked.
The animal control officer who retrieved Donald said the pig could've caused some real troubles on the roads if not picked up. Police apparently had to shut part of SH2 while Donald roamed freely.
The officer, who wished to remain anonymous, said staff had tried to reunite Donald with his owner, even impounding him longer than legally required in the hope his owner would claim him.
The district council had held two to three auctions in recent years, but these were often for impounded and unclaimed sheep or cattle.
– LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
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