From the president
November 2026
Dear Supporter,
As I have done so many years in the past, I want to wish you a very happy Holiday Season. Since this will be my last letter as President and Cofounder of the Ironwood Pig Sanctuary, I wanted to take this opportunity leading into the Holidays to thank you for a wonderful association over a quarter century. In 2000, Ben and I attended our first conference leading up to our decision to start Ironwood. The fellows leading it were from PIGS A Sanctuary. They warned us that it would be a daunting task but having been volunteers at a local pig sanctuary, we could see the need was great, so we made the decision to begin a land search. We found a great piece of property in the beautiful Sonoran Desert, so at the young age of 56 and 60 (Ha!) we began to build the beautiful place called Ironwood Pig Sanctuary. It has been the home to over 2000 pot-bellied pigs, Kunekunes, and a few domestic hogs over the years. To this day, about 680 remain with us and another 450 or so live in foster homes. Our pigs range in age from a few months to 19 years old.
You have been our anchor. Many of you have been with us since our first newsletter went out in 2002. Without your support, none of these pigs that you have come to know and love from our newsletters over the years would have had a safe and forever home with us. We have worked hard over this past year to put good people in place to ensure the little pigs we now have who are only a few months old will have a safe home forever if need be. That could be 15 to 20 years.
Ben and I will remain as members of the board, so we are not saying goodbye, but the day-to-day operations of the sanctuary are no longer ours. I will miss the daily lives of our pigs and also saying goodbye when the time comes for them to leave us. I will miss the joy of seeing a new pig who has been mistreated or neglected come to life as he or she becomes loved and cared for. I will miss the staff who I have laughed and cried with, many of whom I have worked with for so many years. I am so grateful for all the hard work they do and will continue to do in the future. Selfishly, I will miss the sense of purpose.
While this is a life-changing event for Ben and me, it is definitely not a life-changing event for the pigs. There will be nothing changing in their lives and that is our whole objective. I look forward to coming to the sanctuary to volunteer and to pet pigs, a luxury that was rarely available in the past.
I will miss coming into your homes and talking to you about all that is happening at the sanctuary and about the new pigs and what their stories are. I will miss you and all your wonderful notes and communications. I am forever grateful we have taken this journey together and together we have made the Ironwood Pig Sanctuary possible.
Sincerely,
Mary Schanz, President & CoFounder
