They Made It Out: Minipigs Begin Life After the Laboratory
Fourteen Yucatan minipigs from a Midwest research laboratory are now free and beginning new lives at animal sanctuaries across the U.S.
Their rescue, dubbed Mission PigPossible, brought together animal advocates, sanctuaries, and funders to accomplish something that remains extraordinarily rare: getting animals out of a research lab alive.
Rise for Animals committed $15,000 toward their journey to freedom.
New Beginnings
After a journey of thousands of miles, the minipigs arrived at sanctuary. They stepped out of their transport crates and into a new life with things that never should’ve been extraordinary: grass beneath their feet, fresh air, mud to roll in, fresh fruit to chomp on, cool pools to lie in, and other pigs beside them.
Best of all, now they have the freedom to simply be pigs.
Mission PigPossible took weeks of careful coordination. New Life Animal Sanctuary coordinated and carried out the rescue operation, with Kindness Ranch playing a vital role in securing the pigs’ release.
Rise for Animals was proud to join the effort as a funding partner to help make the rescue possible.
The minipigs were ultimately transported in small groups to five sanctuary homes: Snouts of the Southwest in Arizona; Unicorn Ranch Rescue and Leo’s Animal Rescue in California; Wildlings Forest Sanctuary in Oregon; and Heartwood Haven in Washington.
Fourteen Pigs Got Out. So Many Others Never Do.
We’ll never know everything these pigs experienced in the lab.
But we do know that pigs are used in invasive research involving drug toxicity, medical devices, organ transplantation, surgical training, and other experiments. And for most animals used in research, sanctuary is never part of their stories.
That’s what makes Mission PigPossible so worth celebrating. It’s also why our work doesn’t stop here.
Today, 14 intelligent, social, emotional animals are safe. They’ll never again be research subjects.
We want every animal in a lab to have a life beyond its walls. Until that future exists, we’ll keep fighting to end animal experimentation—and we’ll keep showing up when animals have a chance to get out.
Help Us Be Ready When Animals Have a Chance to Get Out
Rescue opportunities like Mission PigPossible can arise quickly. Your support gives us the flexibility to act when animals have a chance at freedom while sustaining the larger fight to make animal experimentation a thing of the past.
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