Saving Wilbur - Animals Australia's Involvement

In May 2005, Animals Australia received a call from Parmount Pictures' Executive Producer, Bernie Williams, who was working on the set of a movie being shot in Victoria, Australia. He had received a leaflet from one of our supporters detailing our SaveBabe campaign to help Australian pigs and thought we might be able to help him with a bit of a problem!

The movie was Charlotte’s Web, the ‘problem’ was 42 homeless ‘Wilburs’, and the result was a wonderful partnership devoted to ensuring that all Charlotte’s Web ‘Wilburs’ would live long, happy lives.

Forty-two piglets were used in the movie, and Animals Australia, in association with Paramount Pictures, found every single piglet a loving, permanent home.

In the Where Are They Now feature on the Charlotte’s Web DVD you will see some of the stars of the movie – Alice, Daisy and Lily - as they are now – happy and enjoying life! These pigs are very lucky – had they not been chosen to be movie stars their lives would have been very, very different.

Watch the video

Saved from what?

Whilst our ‘Wilburs’ are living happy lives full of foraging, wallowing and sunbathing, around the world hundreds of millions of these sensitive, curious, intelligent animals are kept in barren, overcrowded conditions devoid of the opportunity to express any natural instinct. They are killed when they are just a few months old so that we can eat their meat. Breeding females (‘sows’) are kept in solitary confinement for their entire lives in cages so small that they can’t even turn around. This happens in most countries around the world, and it probably happens near you.

Condemning millions of these animals – which are every bit as intelligent and individual as your cat or dog – to miserable, barren lives is done in the name of profit; people want cheap meat. We don’t believe it is acceptable to take away an animals’ freedom and happiness for the sake of profit. Do you?

But it doesn’t have to be this way…

Charlotte’s Web is E. B. White’s wonderful story of how a spider – the eponymous Charlotte – saves Wilbur from being turned into bacon. Having been saved from early death once already – by Fern, the farmer’s daughter who saved Wilbur from being killed as the runt of the litter – Wilbur knows how much he has to live for, and how much he doesn’t want to die:

“I don’t want to die… I want to stay alive… I want to breathe the beautiful air and lie in the beautiful sun”.

Wilbur’s plea is one that, if we listened, would be heard from pigs around the world. Like E.B. White said in his book, “Perhaps if people talked less, animals would talk more”.

In the Charlotte's Web DVD featurette ‘Where are they now?’ you will see how happy all of our movie stars are now. We believe that all pigs should be as happy as Alice, Daisy, Lily and all the other ‘Wilburs’.

 

How you can help pigs

1. Support our SaveBabe.com campaign

Animals Australia’s SaveBabe campaign has been educating people about the plight of factory-farmed pigs for more than 2 years, giving people the information they need in order to make compassionate choices when they shop.

Our Pro Pig Pledge not to eat factory-farmed pig products – or not to eat pigs at all! - is the perfect way to show your commitment to helping pigs.
Click here to make the Pro Pig Pledge today!

By donating to our campaign, you can help us to inform even more people about the plight of pigs. We want to change the way Australian pigs live – please support our campaign to ensure that all pigs are as lucky as Wilbur!
Click here to donate to our SaveBabe.com campaign.

2. Adopt a pig!

There are many farm animal sanctuaries around the world that are home to pigs rescued from lives of misery in factory farms. These sanctuaries rely on donations and sponsorships to feed and care for the rescued animals. Sponsorship is a great gift for a friend, or for yourself!

For an even more special sponsorship, why not adopt a movie star?! Alice, Lily and Daisy – who all featured in Charlotte’s Web and in the ‘Where are they now?’ featurette – live at Edgar’s Mission farm animal sanctuary in Victoria, Australia. Adopting your very own movie star will entitle you to unlimited visits to Edgar’s Mission and quarterly updates on their exploits at the sanctuary.

To sponsor a movie star, visit www.EdgarsMission.org.au.

3. Speak up for pigs in your area!

Whether you’re Australian or not, you can show your commitment to helping pigs by making the Pro Pig Pledge.

However, there is more you can do in your own community to help pigs. If you live in Australia, call Animals Australia on 1800 888 584 or order your free action pack by clicking here.

If you don't live in Australia, visit www.worldanimal.net to find a campaigning organisation near you (you can browse by country – to find an organisation helping pigs look in the ‘farmed animals’ section). Join up and start helping to spread the word about pigs!