Esther the Wonder Pig stayed home in 2020, and brought some much-needed joy to her fans
Adopted as mini pig, Esther surprised dads by growing in size, and stardom
Esther the Wonder Pig has been blissfully unaware of the pandemic, and that has been a balm for the many people who love and follow her online, says one of her dads.
"To her, none of this is going on," said Steve Jenkins who, along with his partner Derek Walter, adopted Esther in 2012.
That means her happy, uninterrupted life has given people "a place that they could go, where it wasn't constantly about what we were dealing with," he told The Current's Matt Galloway.
Jenkins and Walter thought they were adopting a mini pig in 2012, but Esther grew to be 260 kg, almost a metre tall, and nearly two metres long. Her arrival completely changed their lives, and the couple now run a sanctuary for abused animals in Campbellville, Ont. It's home to Esther and about 90 other animals.
Esther has also corralled a huge social media following — with over 2.1 million follows across Instagram, Twitter and Facebook — and became the subject of a book and feature film.
But it hasn't all been plain sailing, with Esther suffered health problems in 2018 and 2019. Jenkins spoke to Galloway about how 2020 has gone. Here is part of their conversation.
She brings a lot of joy to people on social media, and I'm wondering what 2020 has been like for Esther?
Well, it's been interesting. I mean, in a lot of ways, it didn't change for us. Our job every day is to get up and take care of her and take care of the animals here at the sanctuary, and to put out a little bit of joy into the world. And so that has been our focus.
If anything, it became an even more important job this year and a place that people actually really came to lean on. So we tried to keep it the same as it always was. We wanted it to be a place that, despite how crazy things were elsewhere, Esther's day was still consistent.
To her, none of this is going on. It was, I think, nice for people to have a place that they could go, where it wasn't constantly about what we were dealing with. I think it became a real — I don't want to say a crutch for people, but a real happy place for people.
What joy, do you think, has she found this year?
Well it's been a weird couple of years for her unfortunately. She had cancer a couple of years ago. And then we had a really nasty toe infection to deal with last year. So we spent the better part of 2018 and '19 at the Ontario Veterinary College.
So for her, 2020 was amazing. Because knock [on] wood, she's been home for well over a year. She's getting back into her normal routine and doing all of her normal things. That was really nice for us.
Coming into 2020, I mean of course in the back of my mind, I'm thinking: My God, if something happens and she needs to go to the hospital, you know, I won't be able to stay with her, the way that we usually do for understandable reasons. That was terrifying for me.
Thankfully, we've had a really, really great year from an Esther health-perspective, and her happiness and everything has been really, really great.
The animals help us too, because they don't know everything else is going on. So they're a distraction for us.
Tell me more about that, because I mean there are a lot of people — I don't know whether people are getting pandemic piglets, but they're getting pandemic puppies, certainly. And in part because my dog doesn't know that we're in the midst of a pandemic, my dog just knows that we're home all the time. What has she meant for you this year?
Well, exactly that. It's been a distraction for us, as in it keeps our mind off of it. It allows us to focus on staying positive and staying happy ourselves, and being able to put that out there in the world. You know, it's hard to be a positive influence when you're feeling down yourself.
So the day is just unfolding. What does Esther have planned for the rest of today?
Well, this is a very busy time for Esther. We're working really hard for the sanctuary right now. We've got our big annual fundraiser on, so that's the focus around the property right now. Esther's involvement, thankfully from her perspective, is pretty limited. So her schedule today will consist of a couple of walks. And other than that, she sleeps.
She's a lucky girl. She gets to spend between 16 and 18 hours a day in her bed. So she's living the dream, from everybody's perspective.
Written by Padraig Moran. Produced by Julie Crysler.
