A 44-Year Old Man Offered To Sanctuary For His Dog And His Pig

A Portland man found himself homeless at 44 years of age, along with his dog and a 250-lbs. pet pig.

But the fire department’s special homeless assistance team got the man and arranged for a trip home to his family in Chicago, and for the Roscoe the pig, a spot in the state’s largest farm animal rescue sanctuary.

A burst appendix, an inability to work, a mortal heart attack: Tony James suddenly found himself a jobless widower living out of his car. Tony James only shelter was his car, which he shared with his dog Elvis a fully grown Göttingen breed pig that his deceased wife had adopted 3 years before.

Amid the tragedy, Portland Fire & Rescue’s Community Health Assess and Treat (CHAT) team identified James as someone on the brink, and stepped in to help, offering him transport to his family’s home in Chicago, and to find a sanctuary for Roscoe.

Within a day, CHAT had contacted the Lighthouse Farm Sanctuary in Scio, Oregon, the largest of its kind in the state, and home to some 300 farm animals.

Driving Roscoe to his new home, executive director of Lighthouse Farm Sanctuary‘s executive director Gwen Jakubisin got to watch the man bid farewell to a pig he had cared for even without a roof over his head.

“It was actually quite emotional because the bond between Tony and Roscoe was very apparent,” Jakubisin told Samantha Swindler at Oregon Live. “They love each other very much. We were all crying.”

Tony James loved his pig, and he was devastated when Roscoe had to go.

It's a darn show. Tony really loved that pig.