Beatrice came to Darrowby on the recommendation of our vet, who came across her living in the second story of a house she'd never seen the outside of. Her hooves had grown so long that she could not walk, and she had spent five years living without sun, fresh air, or proper medical attention.

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She was in the worst condition of any resident we've taken in, and she needed two more hoof trims beyond her initial intervention to make her hooves at all safe for her mobility. The trauma she experienced upon leaving her old home and arriving at Darrowby was reminiscent of Plato's allegory of the cave: the sun was too bright, stretching her legs was too painful, pig food designed for her nutritional needs wasn't as tasty as the human food she'd been fed: all the changes to improve her life were hard on her.

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Despite all this, she is making slow and steady progress; she rooted in the dirt for the first time, she woke to her first sunrise, she is still learning about other pigs but she loves her duck neighbors, and she allows us to pat her when she's in the mood. She is our most talkative pig, and always has a comment or critique about what we're doing. Sometimes her noises mean, "Stop that," and sometimes her noises mean, "Keep doing that," and we're learning her language. She loves her single lady hut, and we love her.