What's the Pig Idea?

What’s the Pig Idea?

During training, my family got a little piglet.  He was so cute and little.  My family told me I could name him, so I did, Viliamu, after my brother.  He was really cute, and we tried to keep him on a rope and he lived quite contently for a long time under the house.  He got off his leash quite frequently as pigs aren’t known to be on leashes, and I joined my brothers and sisters in running after the little piggy until we caught him. 

Why were we so worried about the pig being loose?  In many villages there are strict rules preventing pigs from being loose in the village.  If your pig comes out of the pen, or off of his rope in this case, he will be killed, cooked and presented to the village.  (I am not sure who always eats the pig.  While we were in training our trainers were presented a few pigs that were killed because of this.)

My village has an unofficial rule about the pigs.  It is not completely enforced, however if a pig crosses onto your land, you have the right to kill it.  Our dog usually does a good job about chasing them away, which sadly kills a few in the process.  However at night some are missed.

My family does not eat pork, and so is not a fan of the pigs.  We have a fence around our area, but the pigs manage to make holes in the fence and dig to come inside. 

Pigs get startled easily.  By having the dog go after them, or me and my sister run to chase them away, it usually works well.  But at night, my sister and I are not on pig guard, and sometimes the dogs are not as well.  Night is when the pigs cause the most trouble.

Outside my window I hear the sound of movement on the lava rocks.  Startled from trying to sleep, I wonder what is going on.  The grunt then tells me, it’s a pig.  The pigs use this time to dig around and often break our water lines. 

I wish our village was better at enforcing the pig law.  Many villages require pens, and it completely makes sense as it not only cleans up the village, but causes falavelaves.