As pigs go, Freida is a smart one.
She knows her name and comes when she’s called, but that isn’t the only trick she can do. Freida can also swim.
A few weeks ago, Amanda Zee and her mom Eileen Kendall brought Frieda from their Friday Harbor farm to the ferry. They were taking her to breed with another pig when Freida got cold feet, and a whole lot more, when she decided to make a run for it.
“She ran right off the front of the ferry,” said Kendall.
“It was surreal,” added Zee.
Unbeknownst to the two family farmers, Freida somehow managed to slip out of her pen in the back of the family’s pick-up, and the sow took a swan dive into Puget Sound.
“We assumed she would’ve been sucked under and chopped up in the propeller,” said Zee.
Somehow, Frieda managed to survive. She swam to the shores of Lopez Island where someone found her walking along the side of the road and saved her proverbial bacon.
No one is sure how far Frieda swam. The Sound is only about 45 degrees this time of year.
“Our assumption was it would’ve been too cold, and she was dead. We were pretty depressed for a while,” said Kendall.
But Frieda took to Puget Sound like a pig to water and was apparently no worse for the wear.
So what now for Frieda the swimming pig? Perhaps a pool to replace the pen?
“That’s a thought,” said Kendall. “We might give her a pond to go swimming in.”
After all, who needs to fly when pigs can swim?
Copyright 2017 KING