Pot bellied pig plays piano to raise awareness in N.W.

One of Pee Wee's many tricks is to carry a basket with his snout. (Megan Cloherty/WTOP)
Caption: Pee Wee greeted American University law students in the front courtyard. (WTOP/Megan Cloherty)
Student Catherine Riedo invited Pee Wee and his crew to AU to raise awareness to animal cruelty with the hope to inspire a meatless lifestyle. (WTOP/Megan Cloherty)
The Pig Day event was held outside the Washington College of Law school on Tuesday, Sept. 16. (WTOP/Megan Cloherty)
One of Pee Wee's many tricks is to carry a basket with his snout. (WTOP/Megan Cloherty)
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WASHINGTON – Don’t order a teacup piglet unless you’re willing to deal with the hog it will inevitably become.

This is the message Cheryl Rotondi and her pot bellied pig, Pee Wee, shared among students at the American University Washington School of Law recently.

“He’s about 5 years old. He probably weighs 100 pounds. And he’s a charmer. He plays his piano, he carries his basket and he knows how to work the crowd,” said Rotondi, who represents the Pig Placement Network in Rushland, Pennsylvania.

She adopted Pee Wee and he quickly became the spokes-pig for the non-profit’s message.

The Pig Placement Network finds homes for pigs abandoned by their owners, which is happening more often with the so-called teacup pig trend, or online piglet purchases, said Rotondi.

“They’re putting them in a crate and shipping them across country to people who don’t have a lot of knowledge about pigs. It’s an impulse buy. As a result, at some point, the pig doesn’t fit in that person’s lifestyle. They give it up,” Rotondi says.

Catherine Riedo with AU’s Student Animal Legal Defense Fund invited Pee Wee and his crew to AU’s campus. Her designs were of a vegetarian nature, too.

“My goal for this entire event is that people realize how intelligent animals are and maybe they’ll feel a connection with Pee Wee and think a little bit harder about what they’re eating,” Riedo said.

And, she added, if this 100 pound, five-year-old pig doesn’t have them thinking twice, nothing will.

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