Alum rescues piglet, story goes viral

The story of a tiny pig rescued from January’s historic snow storm by Lehigh alum Perry Smith ’87 and his family has gone viral.

The family spotted the piglet stuck in the snow along the side of road near Hagerstown, Maryland, as they headed back to their hotel after skiing that day in Pennsylvania. Smith believes the piglet, which was shivering, was close to death from hypothermia. They wrapped him up in a Lehigh sweatshirt to keep warm.

“We were trying to save this animal,” said Perry, who received his bachelor’s in history from Lehigh.

The story has circulated around the globe, through articles in The Washington Post and on BuzzFeed, the BBC, ABC, Inside Edition and more.

According to The Washington Post article, the piglet had a snipped tail and a number tattooed on its ear—indications that it was being raised on an industrial farm to be slaughtered.

Instead, Smith and his family took in the piglet, which they named Wee Wee, feeding it rice cereal and bananas and keeping it warm. Though the children entertained thoughts of keeping the piglet as a pet, the family eventually took Wee Wee to the Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary in Maryland to live out his life. Meanwhile, Wee Wee’s celebrity status grows. His Facebook page so far has more than 3,000 likes.