Elusive baby pig named Dale Oinkhart Jr. sends North Carolina town on wild chase
When Travis Stanley Harper woke up the morning of May 11, he told WCTI that he got an odd call.
“You know, some people wake up to ‘Good morning beautiful, good morning handsome,”’ Harper told the outlet. “I woke up to ‘Your pig’s on the loose in downtown Kinston.’”
Within hours of the news, the North Carolina town had its eyes peeled for Harper’s elusive piglet, named Dale Oinkhart Jr., an apparent nod to NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Oinkhart escaped from a pin at Stanley’s Saloon on Wednesday, according to WCTI. Harper said he thought the small pig had squeezed through a hole in the fence.
The weekend before Oinkhart went missing, the saloon held a pig race for the first time during a barbecue festival, according to the saloon’s Facebook page.
Once Harper began to look for his pig, he posted a notice on Facebook so the community would keep an eye out. Dozens of people commented with questions, tips and jokes.
“He heard the BBQ festival left town, now he can walk around unattended,” one person joked on Harper’s Facebook page.
Harper also offered a $20 reward and breakfast at a local cafe on Facebook for anyone who captured the pig.
“I’m going back to my house to take these boots off and put my running shoes on,” Harper said after searching for the pig on May 11. “If I don’t find him in a few hours, I’m forming a search party.”
One commenter mentioned they had seen a piglet behind a deli called Whiskey Pig.
“I ran there soon as I saw this comment but I think he got some intel and took off before I could get there... these aren’t your average piglets we’re dealing with here,” Harper wrote on Facebook.
Around 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Harper and some fellow pig-wranglers spotted Oinkhart near Kinston Housing Authority Apartments and were able to corner him, WCTI reported, putting an end to the hours of searching.
“Thankful for a safe capture and return home for Dale Oinkhart Jr.,” Stanley’s Saloon posted on Facebook.
Kinston is about 81 miles southeast of Raleigh.
This story was originally published May 13, 2022 at 1:06 PM with the headline "Elusive baby pig named Dale Oinkhart Jr. sends North Carolina town on wild chase."
