Piglet falls from truck on the highway, gets new sanctuary home

May 31 (UPI) -- After falling from the side of a truck on a busy Nevada highway, a piglet named Lucky has a new home at an animal sanctuary.

Lars Gradel said he was driving on Interstate 215 in Las Vegas late last week with his work partner, Rebecca Zajac, and her son, Colton, 7, when a truck carrying pigs pulled in front of them and a small piglet fell from the side of the vehicle.

"We saw a pig fly out the side of the truck, and he tumbled about 10, 15 times down the side of the freeway," Gradel told KVVU-TV.

Gradel pulled over to check on the animal.

"I was worried he was really hurt, and then he stood up, and I just yelled, 'Go grab him before he gets in traffic!'" Zajac recalled.

The work partners wrapped the piglet in a towel and brought him into the car.

"We assumed that he would be injured by the amount of tumbles he took on the freeway, and it was going like 60 miles per hour," Gradel said. "But surprisingly, he was OK."

They took the piglet to a local veterinarian.

"The vet told us he was probably about 8 to 12, 14 weeks. He was recently weaned from his mom, so he didn't even know how to drink water when we got him or anything like that," Gradel said.

The piglet, dubbed Lucky, spent the weekend in Zajac's back yard before they were able to find him a permanent home at the All Friends Animal Sanctuary.

Zajac said the sanctuary is close by her home, and Colton is eager to visit his new friend.

Tara Pike, founder of All Friends Animal Sanctuary, said falling from the truck may have saved Lucky's life.

"His fate was to go to a fattening facility where he would be fed a lot, and then in about six to eight months, he would've been sent to slaughter," Pike said. "And now Lucky's going to be wallowing in mud and rooting around in the ground and digging little holes with his snout and eating watermelon and popsicles in the summer."

She said Lucky currently weighs about 18 pounds, but could end up 700 to 800 pounds when he reaches adulthood.