In late summer it was time to do some doctoring on Matilda’s piglets. Now, our Red Wattle Hogs are extremely gentle, but Matilda has a bit of Wild Hog blood and she really doesn’t like anybody fooling with her babies! We gave her a treat and got her in the “gopher” cage, but as soon as we caught one of her piglets he started squealing and Matilda broke right out. She flipped the cage over, came charging through the fence, and tried to eat us. After we stopped running we got the gopher turned over and with the help of staff, interns, and visitors we lured her back in. This time we didn’t take any chances—we secured the gopher with two big fence posts and piled it with a wood pallet, several hundred pounds of rocks, and two men. She still managed to bounce the gopher cage up and down but she stayed in it and we got her piglets safely doctored.
