Santa Paula : Once-Homeless Pig Lives High on Hog

Grunt the pig, who received national attention two years ago when he briefly joined the ranks of the nation’s homeless, now has his own house in Santa Paula and even a private swimming pool just a few yards away.

Resting beside the pig house built especially for him, the 800-pound porker is living high on the hog thanks to his owners, Ozzie and Rhonda Osborne, who saved him from becoming just so much bacon.

“Oh, he seems to be enjoying himself. He mostly just lies around all day and is as lazy as ever,” Rhonda Osborne said. In fact, Grunt is so lazy that he refused to get up and walk to his pool to pose for pictures.

Three-year-old Grunt was abandoned 20 months ago when his former owner moved from the Palos Verdes Peninsula and left him behind for gardeners, who thought Grunt was intended as a free dinner. They ambushed Grunt and tried to beat him to death with broom handles.

Neighbors called the police, and the pig was rescued and placed in an animal shelter. Grunt’s plight was picked up by the media and more than 400 pig-lovers offered to take him in.

But The Fund for Animals, an animal rights group, heard that Ozzie Osborne, no relation to the rock star of the same name, is a pig-fancier with a 190-acre ranch, and asked him to adopt Grunt.

“Heavens, we got so many phone calls when Grunt first came here,” Rhonda Osborne said. “A lot of people wanted him, others called to offer to help pay for his food.”

She added that a lot of strangers stopped by with their children and wandered around the ranch trying to get a glimpse of the famous pig.

“We should have made Grunt the Pig T-shirts to sell from the very start,” Ozzie Osborne said.

The Osbornes keep Grunt’s pictures and press clipping in a blue album. The earlier photos show that red-haired Grunt has grown less obese in the past 20 months.

“We had to put him on a diet because if he got any fatter he wouldn’t be able to stand up on his own,” Rhonda Osborne said.

The female pigs in the pen have been trying to woo him for quite some time, but Grunt seems content simply with his new house and pool. His one companion is one of the family’s many cats, nicknamed Pig-Cat, who enjoys cuddling up with Grunt and the other porkers.

Rhonda Osborne said Grunt doesn’t seem interested in other pigs.