Albany pet pigs find new home outside of Corvallis

Potbellied pigs Harper Dawn and Hazel Grace have lived in their Albany home for six years. But the pair faced eviction when the city determined Bolen had violated municipal code by keeping swine within city limits.

Albany city code says that pigs cannot remain in homes past 4 months old. That exception was put in place to encourage 4-H clubs. 

Bolen pleaded with city councilors to change the law to allow her pigs to stay. She was armed with several letters penned by supportive neighbors, but the city didn't budge after staff asserted the change would burden the Albany Police Department. 

Instead, she faced a $2,500 citation and a deadline to remove her pets.

Bolen avoids going into their former room, she said. Inside the polka-dotted space, the signs that once bore their names are no longer up. But pictures still line the wall of the two pink and black spotted pigs. 

Even morning routines feel interrupted by their absence. She used to wake up every morning at 7:30 to let the dogs out and feed the pigs, she said.

“I burst into tears because I had thrown away my first banana peel in six years,” Bolen said. She would often feed them yogurt and peanut butter as snacks, as well as banana peels.

Rehoming her pets was no easy feat. Many of Bolen's options fell through. Some people wanted smaller pigs or didn’t realize how much space and care they would need, she said.

That is, until Lynn Honey decided her farm with 60 horses, two goats, a herd of Highland cows and six pigs could take on two more — though it took her husband some convincing, Honey said with a laugh.

They were already full, but they just couldn’t say no, she said.

Many of Honey's animals came from people needing to rehome them. It’s not something she intended.

“It just kind of happens when you really love animals,” she said.

During the 2020 Labor Day fires, she housed evacuees' horses, alpacas and cats, she said as she walked through the stables on her property just outside Corvallis. She gently spoke to the piebald and chestnut colored horses as they perked their heads up from their stalls. 

At the far corner, pink and purple signs with the names “Hazel Grace” and “Harper Dawn” hung on a door. Inside the kennel, the pair snuggled close together in a pile of straw under a red heat lamp. Their bodies were barely visible, their snouts and eyes peeking through the hay.

They’re adjusting well, but they are going from being indoor pets to living outside and adjusting to life on a farm, Honey said.

It’s not ideal to make such a transition in the winter. But with the heat lamp and straw, the pigs, lovingly referred to as “the ladies,” are getting along.

Bolen hopes to have a more permanent structure built that will be more weatherproof for the girls, as they have been accustomed to living inside their whole lives.

Bolen is organizing a crowdsourcing funding campaign to cover the costs of lumber to build such a structure.

“She (Honey) was very sympathetic and totally understood my concerns with the weather,” Bolen said.

It’s like they are boarders, Honey said. They made an arrangement. The pigs have a place to stay, and Bolen helps pay for the pigs to get their hooves maintained.

Since finding the girls a new home, Bolen’s $2,500 citation has been dropped.

With the farm not too far from Bolen’s house, she can still visit her pigs.

“As soon as they heard her voice, they started talking,” Honey said about Bolen’s first visit to the pigs’ new home.

She welcomes Bolen to visit her pigs any time and often sends her videos and pictures to keep her updated on how the two are faring with their transition.

“I was lucky enough to find the perfect person to take in my girls,” Bolen said.