Forester Sanne van Gemerden of Natuurmonumenten is full of disbelief about the discovery of two pot-bellied pigs in the Drents Friese Wold. The animals lie on the heath, in a homemade bed of pipe straw. Van Gemerden suspects that they have been dumped. “Why do people do such things?”
With a special trailer for livestock, Natuurmonumenten, Staatsbosbeheer and Het Drentse Landschap wanted to catch the animals and bring them to a temporary shelter, but that failed. “One of the animals got angry and threw his weight into the fight. Then they took off,” says Van Gemerden. There were twelve of them there to catch them.
The reports about the pot-bellied pigs have been coming in since yesterday morning. That is why the idea exists at Natuurmonumenten that they were left behind during the weekend. “You can also get close to them and they are not frightened. So they are not wild animals,” says Van Gemerden. She can’t reach it with her head. “The animals have been left on the moors. It’s March, there’s nothing to eat for those animals. How can you do that to them?”
She hopes that people will think before leaving pot-bellied pigs or other animals behind. “If you can’t or don’t want to take care of them anymore, look for a solution first. Don’t dump them.”