From the president
May 2025
Dear Supporter,
Welcome everyone to our 24th year anniversary. Our first pigs arrived in 2001, but the ground work was laid in 2000. We went to a conference in Tucson where the founders of “Pigs A Sanctuary” gave a talk and opened the gates for us to move ahead with plans we were contemplating. The rescue where we had been volunteering for 1½ years was full and calls kept coming in for pigs in need of a home.
We had fallen in love with the pigs and it was clear time was running short for the place where we were volunteering, so we began our land search. We were surprised and dismayed to find very few places that allow pigs even though virtually any other species of animal was permitted. Just as we were getting discouraged, we were told by a friend about land for sale in Pinal County. Forty acres of beautiful Sonoran desert that was zoned General Ranch which meant we were able to have as many pigs as we wished. The land was soon purchased and the building began. By June of 2001 we had enough infrastructure built to bring in our first two pigs, Claire and Popeye. Thus began the march to 2025 and 680 pigs.
We sold a property to provide the funding to get started and began to build the infrastructure and bring the living quarters to the property. Donna kept saying, “When are we going to have pigs?” Well, I guess the old saying “be careful what you wish for” is very apropos.
Pens and shelters had to be built, fences put up high enough to protect the pigs from predators, hundreds of feet of pipe run for water, and a well had to be dug.
In the meantime, pigs began to arrive and some were soon released to our first field. There was lots of vegetation then as can be seen in the photo, but the pigs soon destroyed nearly all of it as seen in Donna’s photo. In the beginning, we took in many large groups of pigs from failed sanctuaries the first of which was 58 we brought from the rescue where we volunteered. Later we bought that property and left many more pigs on site with a caretaker. Chandler was a Yucatan we had taken in from the University of AZ. He had been used in research and we were asked to take him and his companion when they no longer had use for them. Other rescues included a group of 26 from St. Matilda’s in 2006, 20 feral pigs from a New Mexico rescue in 2007, and in 2008, 33 that quickly became 45 from a cruelty case in Peoria, AZ. During those years, we expanded our enclosed area to the west of the sanctuary to accommodate all the new pigs. At that time, we were able to take in almost every pig in need. Those were the good old days that are long gone, especially since the micro mini pig craze that is a fraud and lie and continues to this day.
Many years have passed since those early beginnings. Through those years, we have seen hundreds of pigs pass through our gates who have had a lifetime of care with us and found other pigs to bond with. Our mission to rescue and give sanctuary to as many pigs as possible, both at Ironwood and in foster homes, and outreach has never faltered. YOU have made these 24 plus years possible. I hope you enjoyed your walk back through time when Ben, Donna, and I and some very good volunteers built the sanctuary from 0 to 680 piggies.
Sincerely,
Mary Schanz, President & CoFounder
