Police were sceptical when Nicky Bacon called to report stolen piglet

Police officers were sceptical when Nicky Bacon called to say a piglet had been stolen from Windmill Hill City Farm, in Bristol. But after checking the city farm worker's passport and realising it wasn't a hoax, the little porker was soon returned. Nicky from Ashton, Bristol, said: "I phoned the police and told them one of our pigs had been stolen and I didn't think any more about it. It wasn't until I got a call back really rapidly questioning the details I had given them, and then they turned up at my house. They were really suspicious. They said that both of my names had made them suspicious it was a hoax.



"On reflection, having the surname Bacon when reporting a pig missing is funny, but I hadn't even thought about my first name. I wasn't expecting two police officers to turn up at my door - that's for sure. Apparently it caused a lot of humour at the police station." Fortunately the piglet was found a day after the pignapping, when a member of the public reported seeing the animal in the garden of a house in Withywood. The female Old Gloucester large white cross, who was the smallest of a litter of seven, was found safe and well before she was returned back to the farm by officers in a riot van.



Simone Dougall from Windmill Hill Farm said: "We were all just really shocked. We had no idea where the pig had gone. But from the look of how the pen was damaged we could tell that it was done deliberately by a human rather than an animal. It was quite comical - just seeing the little pig in this massive van, I think the police were quite attached." Staff at the farm believe the unnamed cute piglet was stolen for food. Simone said: "Apparently it is quite common. After we reported the theft we heard from a number of farmers who had similar experiences of people stealing livestock to slaughter and use as food."



Lauren Duffield, who works at the farm, added: "We really care about our animals at the farm and it is likely that the piglet was scared and missing its brothers and sisters. They are very sweet animals and very cute, but they are in no way house trained and would not make good pets." However, the piglet's luck is about to run out, as she is due to be slaughtered for meat in November. Simone said: "We are a working farm and we raise animals for meat - we do not pretend to be a petting zoo. We were incredibly worried about getting the piglet back because for its own safety and wellbeing. Our animals are slaughtered in a very humane way in accordance to rules and regulations. It is likely whoever was planning to kill her would not have adhered to this." Bradley McCarthy of Bristol was jailed for fours weeks for handling stolen goods following the theft.