KANSAS CITY, Mo. — If you are looking for a place to take leftover Halloween pumpkins, pigs at the Kansas City Pig Rescue Network will gladly take them off your hands.
“The pigs love the pumpkins,” explained Angela Willey, the owner and operator of Willeyville Farm- a KCPRN foster home.
Saturday, the Kansas City Pig Rescue Network hosted its biggest fundraiser of the year, the annual Vegan Crockpot Cookoff, where the non-profit also accepted uncut and unpainted pumpkin donations.
“It’s always around Halloween because people have these pumpkins that have been pretty on their porches, and now they have nothing to do with them,” Emily McLeod said, a KCPRN volunteer.
“And pigs love pumpkins, and nutritionally, pumpkins are very good for pigs. The seeds in pumpkins are a natural dewormer. So, we encourage everybody to bring out their leftover Halloween pumpkins, we smash them on the ground, and the pigs go crazy and eat them.”
KCPRN uses the annual event as a way to raise awareness of the services they offer.
“We are a local foster-to-adopt potbelly pig rescue,” Willey said. “So, we operate very similar to a dog and cat rescue. We bring the animals in, and we have them vetted. Everyone is spayed or neutered, updated on their vaccines, and their dewormer and shots. They’re socialized and ready to find educated potbelly pig homes.”
McLeod, an animal chiropractor who volunteers with the pig rescue network, was first introduced to the non-profit after learning about a pig named Elvis.
“When he was a piglet, he was thrown against a wall, and his right femur was shattered, and several vets had tried to save it and could not,” McLeod said. “So, the pig rescue had his leg amputated, and then they nursed him back to health.”
After hearing about Elvis’ story, McLeod reached out to KCPRN and offered free chiropractic care for Elvis.
“That turned into monthly visits for Elvis at no charge because everybody loved him at the clinic,” McLeod explained.
“Then, about a year into taking care of Elvis, once a month, the rescue just came to me and said, ‘Hey, would you be willing to have him live at your house and be a permanent foster?’ So, we very happily added Elvis to our foster family of special needs animals.”
Pumpkins and other donations help the non-profit continue its rescue and rehabilitation efforts.
KCPRN will continue to accept pumpkin donations following Saturday’s fundraiser.
For more information on the Kansas City Pig Rescue Network, you can visit their Facebook page
