Piglet Seppo escaped the jaws of death and became a star of Finnish internet 0 26

Tiina Juntunen walks around the yard calling out “Seppo.” It’s lunchtime, but the four-kilogram piglet is nowhere to be seen.

Finally, she finds the headstrong little one by the wall of the house. A bowl of food makes him pause his diligent digging in the dirt. His muddy snout dives into the food, and joyful munching fills the yard.

Tiina and her husband Veikka have a wild boar farm. Occasionally, weak piglets are born there, doomed to die in the wild—they cannot compete for food with their stronger siblings. Additionally, they may fall victim to aggression from larger relatives. Seppo was also bitten.

“Seppo was half the size of the other piglets and couldn’t manage to find food,” Tiina explains.

Usually, such a piglet would have to be euthanized, as even a domesticated wild boar remains a wild animal, and the law strictly prohibits keeping wild vertebrates as pets.

But Seppo was allowed to stay as an officially registered pet. Following the veterinarian’s instructions, the little piglet recovered from his injuries and now roams the yard of the house.

Return to the pen

Currently, Seppo cannot live in the common pen with the other wild boars. He will only be able to return there when he grows up. Tiina believes that the current four-kilogram baby will grow up by next autumn: then his weight will reach 250-300 kilograms.

“Seppo will remain a friend even when he grows up. He will just become a bigger friend,” says Tiina. “I will be able to go into his pen and interact with him quite differently than with the others, who are practically wild.”

A snouty character

Seppo's popularity on social media came about by chance. A video that Tiina shared on Facebook instantly garnered over a hundred thousand views.

“My phone started blowing up with notifications. Messages, comments, a little bit of everything.”

Now, videos from Seppo’s accounts have been viewed over a million times.

Since Seppo is a true wild boar, Tiina and Veikka asked the veterinarian for guidelines for their social media posts.

“The veterinarian asked us to emphasize in the videos that we are working in cooperation with the authorities and doing everything according to their instructions.”

As soon as Tiina finished her sentence, Seppo dashed behind the shed and began to root through the burnt grass with his powerful snout.

“Amid all the world’s troubles, Seppo and I are making videos for good cheer,” Tiina says with a smile, watching her unusual pet's antics.