Jane Foster, the Tuesday Ramblers hike leader, told this story in February at the Show & Tell. Jane then sent this tale for others to read in an Avon Trail News Alert.
It was a sunny morning September 20th, 2022, with a moderate temperature of about 18 Degrees C. Hikers started to assemble in the parking lot at Allman Arena. As more arrived, I was busy with attendance. We had 24 hikers…big crowd.
We car-pooled to the start site on the trail – km 61.7 on Line 40. After parking in the spaces on landowner’s property off the road’s south side, I led the hiking group, single-file, up hill at the trail opening. The trail turns into the dense pine forest on the left. I hear people’s voices behind me chatting to others around them.
There was traffic on Line 40. I observed the pine needles carpeting the trail and the trees around me. Truly a good start to the day. The weather was perfect for a hike and the terrain, dry.
Then I noted the trail coverings disturbed by obvious pawing or scratching of the surface. Slowing my pace a little, I casually mentioned to the hiker behind me that something disturbed the forest floor…she too noted the markings. The prints were the size of a deer or smaller, not the shape of a dog…what often is in the ground is insects…deer don’t eat insects. We almost read each other’s mind…possible wild pig? Sightings of such creatures had been made known recently on Ontario news channels. We advanced further into the forest and no further markings were seen on the trail. Still I remained vigilant for now.
We walked out of the coniferous forest alongside a more deciduous wood with a tall standing corn field on our right. The trail continued along the edge of this corn field. Not long after, I began to hear rustling from the corn. My gaze turned toward the sound. Then I saw it! Three rows in, a four-legged creature staring at us. It was spotted , grey and black.
The group slowed their pace behind me. I stopped walking. Slowly, calmly, the creature advanced toward me. Definitely a pig! By now the voices had softened as many of us stared back. Many hikers the back of the line remained unaware of what we at the front were encountering. The pig closed the gap. Now standing next to me. I noted no aggression from the pig. No tusks. The creature was alone. Obviously, he was used to humans. I now relaxed a bit. We had a domestic pig for sure.
Word trickled through the ranks of the group of what animal had joined us and everyone came forward to see for themselves. As we talked, the pig walked among us wagging his tail. Within five minutes, the pig was named “ Wilbur”, after the pig who was a character in the children’s movie “ Charlottes Web”.
As we slowly advanced along the trail, the friendly pig “ fell in line” so to speak. He must have felt he was part of the herd.
Meanwhile I was wondering what to do about this situation. Our Avon Trail Land Owner Relations officer who was also hiking that day, volunteered to go ahead to see if the landowner was out and perhaps find out more about Wilbur. Ross quickened his pace ahead of me and Wilbur ran closely behind him. The pace of the pig impressed me. He could really hustle! I wondered if Ross was aware that the pig was so close behind him. Wilbur seemed quite familiar with this trail.
A short distance ahead as we entered the farmer’s lane, we caught up to Wilbur. In the distance, our Avon Trail representative was talking to another man beside a farm wagon. There were two big dogs beside the wagon. Wilbur was protecting himself from the dogs by maintaining appropriate space from them…smart pig.
Our representative rejoined the group informing us that several hikers had reported to the landowner concerns about seeing a “wild pig” on the trail over the previous two weeks. Wilbur had been “on the lam” for a long time.
We carried on with the hike climbing over a stile into another woodlot. I thought Wilbur would turn around as the fence next to the stile would be a deterrent. Not this guy! He was agile enough to crawl under the fence and did so with obvious expertise. He was not going to be left behind.
We came to a small wood bridge created by Avon Trail. Wilbur would not cross over but proceeded to go into the watery ditch. The hikers proceeded on to the next concession Road (Road 107) and turned around. On the way back I wondered if we had seen the last of the pig. Upon reaching the bridge, there he was…by now covered in gooey mud and happy to see us. Back on the trail he rubbed up against a hiker’s staff and any human legs ahead of him. There is an old saying: “ Happier than a pig in shit!
As we got closer to Line 40, I wondered what we were going to do about this pet pig. He had no sign of slowing down in his pace to keep up with us. Accommodations on this section suited him thankfully:
- Ample food ( corn field , insects)
- Water source from the creek/ drain
- A free mud spa to cool him in the heat
- Forest cover to hide
However, Hunting season would be arriving in a month and the threat of natural predators like coyotes came to mind.
Many of the hikers were ahead of me and Wilbur was mingling amongst them by the parked cars, his tail wagging. He definitely loved human contact.
Worried that he would be hit by vehicles on this busy road, a couple of the hikers chased him back into the sanctuary of the pine forest.
We drove home with the concern of what his fate would be.
One of our Ramblers heard about our strange event. She is a volunteer with The Humane Society so she asked her fellow members for a solution. With the Society’s help, an appeal through social media connected them with the pig’s owners, living in the Shakespeare area.. Apparently, they too were looking for Billy…yes that was the pig’s name. A few days later, Billy was reunited with his human family thanks to the local animal shelter and the volunteers working there.
We have talked about Billy often since that day and thrilled that he returned home safely.
One never knows what you may encounter on the Tuesday Rambles!
Submitted by Jane Foster – February, 2024