An animal lover who gave up her pet pig for adoption has reported the new owner to police claiming he killed it and then cooked it on a barbecue.
Mini-pig Roma’s original owner – named only as Mariela in media in Buenos Aires, Argentina – was forced to rehome the pet porker.
So when a man called Facundo Medina contacted her saying he wanted to adopt Roma for his daughters to play with, she was overjoyed.
He also sent her photos of his home and explained that he wanted to raise Roma as if she were one of the family.
Mariela accepted his offer and he came to pick Roma up on 5th January.
On his way back home, he even took a snap of himself grinning widely at Roma in the car with the caption: “With the piggy.”
But a few days later, an audio message went viral on WhatsApp saying that a man had adopted a mini pig and then eaten it.
The message said that shortly after picking the pig up, he had sent his friends a photo of it and asked them to prepare boiling water so they could skin it and cook it on the barbecue.
When horrified Mariela received the WhatsApp message, she immediately knew it concerned Medina and Roma and got in touch with him straight away.
But Medina is said to have lied to her, telling her he had given Roma to someone else, as he had been unable to keep her.
A devastated Mariela told local media: “He told me that he wanted to have her as a pet, that he had two girls, he sent me videos of him playing with his daughters.”
An adorable video released on social media shows Roma on Mariela’s kitchen floor playing with a cuddly toy.
Medina – who has been reported to police for animal cruelty – denies the accusations.
And he says he will take action over threatening messages he and his family have received online, reported local media.
Argentine activist Fernando Pieroni told local media: “She was a precious little pig raised like a dog and this guy went and killed her.”
Miniature – or mini – pigs are typically kept as pets and are distinct from farm pigs, which are for human consumption.
A mini pig can weigh up to 100 kilogrammes (220 lb), while a farm pig typically weighs around four times that.
