Wisconsin family rescues 'lonely' runaway pig named Kevin Bacon, lures him home with Oreos
This isn’t the first time a pig named Kevin Bacon has wandered away from home, but this might be the first time Oreos were involved.
Jack Molgaard’s wife first spotted Kevin Bacon (the II) on the family security camera, meandering around just outside their home in Brighton, about 40 miles south of Milwaukee in Wisconsin.
“My wife spotted an unusual shaped figure on our driveway camera walking along our garage,” Molgaard told the Associated Press on Wednesday.
Kevin Bacon actually “ended coming up right up to our back door,” Molgaard said.
Molgaard’s wife did what any animal lover would do when presented with a similar situation, coaxing him over with a couple of treats.
"My wife started feeding him right away. That’s what she does with every animal that comes to our backyard,” Molgaard said. He ate a couple of things, including apples, tomatoes and carrots.
After the Molgaards indulged Kevin Bacon a bit, they decided it was time to figure out how to get him home.
Kevin Bacon's owners found
It didn’t take long for Molgaard to figure out who the pig belonged to, phoning a farmer friend he thought might be able to help.
Molgaard’s farmer friend did in fact know Kevin Bacon’s owner, passing along his phone number.
Kevin Bacon’s owner hoped the family might be able to “lure” him back to his pen with some sweet treats, telling the Molgaards that cookies and marshmallows were some of his favorites, AP reported.
The owner also told Molgaard that Kevin Bacon was “actually a little lonely, so he was just probably just looking for company,” KKTV reported.
Oreos and a police escort
The Molgaard family grabbed some Oreo cookies, leading the pig down a trail and along a side road, the AP reported.
Kevin Bacon even got a police escort back home, with deputies from the Kenosha County Sheriff's Department helping get him get back on the property safely, according to a Facebook post from the sheriff's office.
“As you can tell by the smile in the deputy's face, he was thrilled to meet a new friend and handle a 'typical county call' as our city friends would say,” the post reads.
The deputies arrived at the home, snapping photos with Kevin Bacon, Molgaard said.
The couple were joined by their 16-year-old daughter, who helped get the big piggy all the way home. She hopped on the pig’s hairy back, pushing him to keep moving forward, according to the AP.
From Oreos to donuts
They managed to get Kevin Bacon back into his pen more than two hours later, leading him home by the glow of a flashlight.
“He is a massive creature, but the owner says he’s a gentle giant,” Molgaard told AP. "We have been over there every day giving him a dozen donuts."
Another pig named Kevin Bacon ran away last year
The original Kevin Bacon pig ran away from his Pennsylvania home on Oct. 14, spending a little over two weeks playing hide and seek with his owner before being re-captured, Chelsea Rumbaugh, USA TODAY previously reported.
Kevin Bacon became an internet sensation over the time he spent missing in action, even catching the attention of actor Kevin Bacon, who petitioned for his safe return, according to previous USA TODAY reporting.
Rumbaugh managed to make contact with the porcine Kevin Bacon on Halloween, ending a weeks-long struggle to get him back in his pen.
Contributing: Saman Shafiq and Harrison Jones of The Evening Sun, part of the USA TODAY Network