The Story of the Potbellied Pigs

I cannot recall if I ever wrote about the 100+ pot bellied pigs (including pregnant and little baby pigs) taken to the so-called sanctuary.

Several years ago, an animal lover rescued 100+ potbellied pigs from a dire situation. Here is an account of what transpired, as told by the rescuer, Jeanette Ferro:

You may or may not be aware of the 98+ potbelly pig rescue I did from October 1999 to January 31, 2000 in Louisiana.

All the mini pigs were inbred, being born over a 2 year period from  one pair that a man in Slidell, Louisiana had. Perhaps, like so many  others, he thought he would get rich by breeding and selling mini  pigs, but was soon in over his head, with over 100 pigs he couldn't  feed or contain. After complaints from the neighbors about the pigs  being every where and eating their gardens and rooting up their yards,  the St. Tammany sheriff's department and animal control shelter  confiscated the pigs and charged the man who was later convicted.

I happened to see the news story as it aired one night in October  1999. The news reporter said the pigs would soon be up for adoption  and anyone who wanted to adopt one, to go to the shelter. I called  the shelter to ask if they would  give me time to find sanctuary placement for the pigs and to please  not adopt them out due to their inbreeding.

The shelter director informed me that the news reporter was wrong to report that the pigs would be adopted because the shelter planned on  killing them all. I pleaded for time and they reluctantly gave it to me.

It took me 3 months to do that rescue and ran close to $10,000. All the local TV channels and newspapers from three parishes covered the story over the entire time, and helped me get donations. Out of the donated funds, I paid to have all the pigs blood tested and tagged, the neutering of the 40 to 45 males, paid for some of the feed and hay bills for the months the pigs were at the shelter (I bought hay, feed, vegetables, and fruit for them also during that time out of my own pocket), and paid for the transport of the pigs as well as other animals (wolves, foxes, a Capuchin monkey with his little security blanket, and I can't remember who else) from another abuse case in an adjoining parish's animal control shelter. Carol Asvestas had agreed to take all of these animals. There was no funding for the animals from the other parish, but Carol and Ron Asvestas told me they would need $4,500.00 up front to cover the cost of constructing a new barn for the pigs and to fence off the acreage the pigs would be living on. Carol Asvestas was paid the $4,500.00 as agreed. Carol Asvestas  promised the pigs and I that the pigs would have several grassy acres with lots of shade trees to live out their lives in peace and quiet. I specifically requested, and was promised that the pigs would be able to remain together as the familiarity of their herd members was the only sense of security and safety the pigs had ever known in their short little lives. Several months after the pigs were in [city with held], I sent $500 of my personal funds to Carol Asvestas  and later sent 3 pieces of my jewelry for which Carol Asvestas  told me she got an additional $1,500.00.

I was in contact with Carol Asvestas for years after the pigs arrived in San Antonio via phone and email. I repeatedly asked for photos of the pigs and was always promised pictures but never received. All I ever got was her pat answer, "They're fine!" I heard different rumors along the way about Carol Asvestas and my pigs and other animals and every time I would ask Carol Asvestas to give me proof with photos or a video of the pigs to quiet any rumors and to rest my own anxieties, Carol Asvestas would always want names and would always threaten to sue me or anyone else saying anything derogatory about the WAO.  Carol Asvestas wrote to me and told me that the "beautiful barn" had been completed. Again, I requested photos, but never given any. According to the news story, Carol Asvestas now says the barn was built, but they later tore it down. She certainly never conveyed that to me. Carol Asvestas told me some months after the arrival of the pigs at the WAO that she sent about half of them to a board member who lived near by. She said she kept the rest. She would never give me a name or address, but said the pigs were close by and she could and did check on them regularly and "they were fine!" Much later on, she said all the pigs were sent to two different board member's homes, but again, the pigs were nearby, as always, "They're fine!"

I was told at one point by one person that Carol Asvestas said she "got rid of them" when asked how the pigs were doing, and later told by someone else that Ron Asvestas had been seen loading all the pigs up on a truck not long after they arrived at the WAO.  I was told a few pigs could not be caught and they may still be there at the WAO,  but I have found no one to this day who has said they have seen them. I was told while the pigs were seen by workers at the WAO being loaded onto a truck; no one at the sanctuary was ever told where Ron Asvestas took the pigs to that day.

For almost 8 years now, this has haunted me. I can't begin to tell you the guilt I feel for letting those babies down if anything has happened to them. It has been torture not knowing their whereabouts or if they are even alive or dead. Other than to take in a few pigs and other animals myself, I can no longer bring myself to do rescue work if I can't personally take the animals. 

Potbellied Pigs - Additional Information

And yet, when Jeanette had the audacity to question Carol about the pigs, this was the result:
Pigs

As a former board of director, I can assure you, the potbellied pigs were NOT given to board members!

For years, there were questions swirling around the disappearance of the 98+ potbellied pigs.  Court records did not help explain their disappearance - just the opposite, it raised additional questions:




click to image to enlarge



click image to enlarge

About two years ago, the so-called sanctuary's vice president provided the OAG an update on the missing pigs, claiming the pigs were given to a day laborer who owned enough land to care for the pigs. The "sanctuary" claimed it did not know the name of the person who took in the pigs as the pigs' records were supposedly destroyed in the 2002 flood waters (The "Growing Up Lion" video and OSHA records proved this to be a false statement). 

Potbellied Pigs - E-mail From Matthes

Even the editor of the San Antonio Lightning, RG Griffin, was left with more questions than answers when he called Carol Asvestas in 2008, requesting an explanation as to where the whereabouts of the potbellied pigs.

ORPHANED ANIMALS VANISHING

The 90 Pig Mystery
Secrets Of An Animal Welfare 'Angel'
Or Maybe Just Playing Another 'Angle?'
Investigations Swirl Around Wild Animal Orphanage

SAL Political Snitch - Copyright 2007 By SAL(Editor's Note: Many of the sources for this story have asked for anonymity, some citing fear of retaliation and current employment fears as a reason.)

Where did the little pigs go? More on that later.

But first...

* * *

You've seen her on TV, ministering to the 'orphaned' animals who are abused or abandoned, and it gives you a warm feeling in your heart; but here's some cold water for your brain.

Her name is Carol Asvestas, and for years she has been head of the Wild Animal Orphanage (WAO) sanctuary. Her husband Ron and other family members are also employed there.

According to numerous sources Asvestas and kin are now under investigation by the Texas Attorney's General office -- initially for funds discrepancies at the charity, and now the USDA is questioning licensing violations.

Other agencies may join in.

* * *

Carol Asvestas has a checkered past.

Locally, in the 90's, she was arrested once for drunk driving and a different case of theft of services was settled with restitution.

The Lightning has learned that Asvestas stunned court clerks when she tried to pay her fine with a check written on a WAO account.

She has been involved in at least three bankruptcy proceedings, according to public records. At least two liens have been levied.

Questions of what happened to pitbulls rescued from a gambling ring remain unanswered. (See story below.)

* * *

Many allegations have been aimed at Asvestas.

According to one donor, approximately 90 potbellied pigs were sent to the compound on the promise that they would receive a new "pig barn" and a life of leisure.

The donor paid $5,000 to Asvestas and the WAO.

Asvestas tells the Lightning that the barn was built, and then destroyed when the pigs were "relocated." She wouldn't say where they were sent.

Former employees and associates tell stories that indicate "pork" was fed to some of the exotic cats, during the same time frame the pigs vanished. Where the meat came from is part of the mystery.

They also scoff at the notion of a no-kill facility.

"It happens all the time," said one.

* * *
A Motion Of Understanding, prepared by the AG has gone unresolved.

The Better Business Bureau "Wisegiving Seal" has been removed from WAO promotional publications.

The USDA has been ignored on civil fines. The AG will probably catch that squeal, too.

A former attorney for WAO emailed Asvestas and basically told her to stop talking about such matters with the news media.

There is much more hidden in the WAO facilities. And we will tell you!

More to follow.

- Developing -

Then lo and behold, the "sanctuary" contacted the pigs' "new owners" this year and requested they provide a letter to the directors claiming they took the pigs to be raised on their "family farm."

I have recently come in possession of this "letter" which was on file at the "sanctuary," and wouldn't you know it, the pigs new owner happens to have a criminal record with Bexar County! What a surprise. Turns out he was also, at one time, a day laborer.
Leon

Finally, after years of trying to figure out where the pigs went, we have a name. But since the "owner" lives in a subdivision (since the 90s), it makes one wonder where the pigs really went and are any still alive or were they slaughtered years ago as I suspect? From what I have been able to learn, his family members mainly consist of women and do not appear to own any land.

So the question remains, where did the pigs go?  And why did the Asvestas' deny the USDA/APHIS inspectors access to the property on more than one recorded occasion?  Why was this letter "created" in 2009?  Was this a CYA letter to hide the truth as to what really happened to the potbellied pigs?  I say YES!

[Present Day:  Upon my return to the WAO in December 2009, I learned from Mary Reininger that all the baby pigs were trampled horribly by the adult pigs due to overcrowding in the small potbellied pig pen.  What was worse is that the vultures, smelling meat, descended upon the pigs causing more confusion for the adults.  I was told it was a horrible situation and that the workers asked for help from the Asvestas to save the few remaining baby pigs.  I learned the Asvestas told the workers there was nothing they could do to save any of the baby pigs.  Instead the solution the Asvestas came up with was to get rid of as many adult pigs as possible.  Just another example of terribly sick animal care at the WAO.  What I don't understand is how the Reiningers could just sit on their hands allowed this type of animal abuses/deaths occur without saying something to the USDA or OAG.   Why didn't they try to save the animals?  Why? Why?  Why?

The hardest thing I ever had to do was tell Jeanette what happened to the baby pigs.  I will never the know the truth as to what happened to the adults.  I still believe Mary and Michelle Reininger knows what really happened to the adults--they just won't tell anyone because it leads one to ask the natural questions--why did you not say something to someone about this horrible animal slaughter?]