The Cochrane area has a new VIP – very important pig that is.
Emmy, a one-year-old Juliana pig, recently made the move from Calgary to an acreage west of Cochrane owned by Jay Eyma. Emmy has had a spotlight in the news recently after her previous owner, Justin Nupoort, was forced to give her up due to a City of Calgary bylaw.
City of Calgary Bylaw Section 27 states ‘No person shall keep livestock in any area of the city except where the keeping of livestock is allowed under The City of Calgary Land Use Bylaw.’ After receiving a notice from the city, Nupoort began searching for Emmy’s new home.
“I saw Emmy’s story on TV and I relayed the message to my daughter, Jayena Collins,” said Eyma.
“He called me, and he had no sooner called me then I had like 10 people tag me in a post about it on Facebook. So it was the power of social media. So I inboxed Justin and we didn’t hear anything back at all for three weeks,” Collins said.
“Then on July 14, Justin messaged me and said ‘Emmy’s still available, I’ve interviewed over 200 homes and I haven’t found a suitable home to this point. So would you mind if we came out and met you?’” Collins continued.
He explained the process of finding Emmy a new family had taken a toll on the poor pig – she had started losing hair and was acting very anxious. Those symptoms soon cleared up when Emmy met Eyma and Collins.
“It was clear that Emmy had kind of picked us too – she was picky about it. Justin said our home was the first that had her tail wagging since he started interviewing people,” Collins explained.
Taking in animals in need isn’t exactly a new hobby for Eyma.
“We’ve had fawns and everything else – we’ve had that happen two or three times where I’ve found fawns out in the field so I bring them to the house and raise them up. I also have an orphan calf in the barn right now that was born in a creek and semi-dead. When she made a noise I thought, ‘Well I guess I’m going to have to take her home,’” Eyma said.
“He’s like Jay Dolittle,” Collins added with a laugh.
Emmy is already adjusting well to her new home. Eyma will eventually let her have the run of the acreage when she gets more accustomed to the land.
Justin and his family intend to visit Emmy often too to make sure she is doing OK. For now, the curious pig is happy exploring her new digs and performing tricks for her new family.
