Pig on the Lam From Pen Caught on Freeway

A 400-pound pig that escaped from a farm at Westminster High School on Wednesday waddled onto the San Diego Freeway, tying up traffic until police herded her off.

“It was just strolling down the road,” Caltrans worker Rich Doss said.

The black and white Hampshire sow used for breeding is one of 16 pigs at the school’s farm, which is next to the freeway. She apparently dug her way out of the chain-link pen she shares with three other sows, then trekked uphill through thick bushes to the freeway near Westminster Avenue about 2:30 p.m., said Jerry Gragson, who runs the farm.

“They look like they just dug under,” Gragson said. “They’re awfully strong.” The pen-mates did not escape.

The porcine pedestrian stayed on the shoulder of the freeway and was herded toward an off-ramp by two California Highway Patrol cars.

By the time Gragson and a couple of student helpers showed up, animal control officers were trying to hoist the pig onto a truck. She was too heavy. Gragson returned to the school for a trailer to get her home.

“They’re very good little escape artists and can nudge their way right out of faulty spots in fences,” said Lt. Marie Hulett, an animal-control spokeswoman. She urged pet owners to double-check pens, especially after recent rains and windy conditions that can loosen fences.

The escape was the biggest news to hit the little campus farm since thieves stole three piglets from their mother’s side in March. Student members of the Future Farmers of America raise pigs, sheep and chickens and grow pumpkins, barley and strawberries, Gragson said.

Gragson said he hadn’t a clue as to why the normally sedate sow--who gave birth to a litter of 12 in August--decided to make a break for it.

“Most of the time she’s just lying around out there,” he said. “I’m just really happy she didn’t get into any trouble.”