There are a lot of reasons why people go vegan.
They might care about animal welfare.
They might want to do their best to protect their environment.
They may even need to do it for health purposes.
Chances are though, that not that many people go vegan because they adopted a pig that they thought was a micropig that actually turned out to be a fully fledged commercial pig.
There’s probably not a whole lot of those people existing in the world.
Some of them who do exist, however, are Steve Jenkins and Derek Walter.
A few years back in 2012, Steve was contacted by a good friend who asked whether he would like to adopt a micropig.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BcZ5iPHDAR1/?hl=en&taken-by=estherthewonderpig
Steve knew his partner wouldn’t be too keen on the idea but he decided to go ahead and adopt the piglet anyway.
Soon, the pig turned out not to be a micropig but a commercial pig.
Or, as she is now known as, Esther the Wonder Pig.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BazaVkOjoYj/?hl=en&taken-by=estherthewonderpig
Just beautiful.
Within three years, Esther grew to 600 pounds, made a lot of mess, and became a permanent member of Steve and Derek’s family.
She got so big that the couple were forced to move house to accommodate her.
The pair opened up the Happily Ever Esther Farm Sanctuary to care for other animals in need.
They even went vegan.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BcnSwptDAwz/?hl=en&taken-by=estherthewonderpig
Since her introduction to the World Wide Web (yes, the pig has an Instagram account), Esther has become somewhat of an international pig sensation.
She’s been seen at her best.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BcfBoxej-e6/?hl=en&taken-by=estherthewonderpig
She’s been seen at her worst.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BcqsEIojc1S/?hl=en&taken-by=estherthewonderpig
She’s been seen getting up to all those things that pigs get up to.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bckd3g5jsyn/?hl=en&taken-by=estherthewonderpig
She’s even had a literal bestselling book written about her – it’s called (you guessed it) Esther the Wonder Pig and it follows Esther’s integration into Steve and Derek’s lives as well as their adventures with her.
We haven’t read it yet but we can go ahead and assume that it’s absolutely wonderful.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BchjHZKDjVA/?hl=en&taken-by=estherthewonderpig
There is, unfortunately, a bit of divide here on the Her desk regarding Esther’s cuteness level.
Is she the cutest thing that has ever graced this planet?
Is she more cute than hedgehogs but less cute than guinea pigs?
Is she cute at all?
https://www.instagram.com/p/BcNp_Ibj9wy/?hl=en&taken-by=estherthewonderpig
I guess we may never know the definitive answers to these questions, but one thing is for certain – and that’s that we will all absolutely be following Esther’s adventures on Instagram from this day forward.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BcdP-XfDgE1/?hl=en&taken-by=estherthewonderpig
And she is cute, alright??
So cute.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BbKM632jG-6/?hl=en&taken-by=estherthewonderpig