Reggie the rogue pig, formerly Kevin Bacon, has found a new home in Taranaki, and will be heading there tomorrow.
Reggie the rogue pig, formerly Kevin Bacon, has found a new home in Taranaki, and will be heading there tomorrow.
It is time for the traffic-stopping pig that tormented Auckland’s SH16 to bid farewell to the Super City as he heads south tomorrow to begin a new life.
Reggie, formerly known as Kevin Bacon, has had anything but a boar-ing life in Auckland.
Tomorrow morning, he will make his way to a “cow country” in Taranaki, where he will join a sanctuary alongside five other pig friends.
One of whom is named Gabe, who is an equally adventurous porker rescued from Cyclone Gabrielle. An Auckland Council spokesperson expects them to become firm friends, who will live out the rest of their pig-ture perfect days telling tales of their interesting lives.
An Auckland spokesperson said the new owners have decided on Reggie’s new name.
He became an infamous fugitive after being on the run for nearly two weeks, holding up traffic Te Atatū off-ramp while evading authorities.
He was recently put up for adoption at the Henderson Animal Shelter, Auckland City Council said the young swine was looking for a nice quiet, free-range home to call his own.
“He is slowly warming up to people and will come and take your yummy offerings!”
Reggie, formerly Kevin Bacon was at the Henderson Animal Shelter before being adopted to a new home in Taranaki.
Auckland Motorways manager, senior sergeant Scott Cunningham, said Reggie had resisted being caught previously and clearly was too big and smart for officers to use catch poles.
“Suggestions of destroying the animal were initially seen as the only plan, but Motorways Sergeant Jonny Campbell and Auckland Council’s animal control officer Jade Cathcart persevered with a more humane option,” Cunningham said.
The pig caused traffic to halt on Auckland’s Northwestern motorway on August 1.
A camera set up by Waka Kotahi to monitor the area the pig was frequenting alerted officers that he had finally been caught.
It was a simple banana that eventually tempted Bacon back into captivity.
The pig was loaded into a trailer “without incident” and taken to the Henderson Animal Shelter.
The pig after he was caught by council's Animal Control and police on SH16.
Auckland Council’s animal management officer Clarke Trethowen said they were delighted Bacon had been captured.
“It’s eluded everyone for some time but it’s satisfying to know it is safely enclosed and no longer a danger to motorists on the busy SH16.”
Cathcart told RNZ earlier this month it took a few goes and the right food to win him over.
“We just googled ‘What do pigs eat?’ and came up with corn, melons and bananas; yeah, he took to the bananas, ate them all up, and set the trap off.”
Then he was loaded onto a trailer and taken to the Henderson Animal Shelter.
“We had a lot of calls coming through, like at least three a day and it was just impossible to catch on foot.”
Cathcart told RNZ the road hog was not only smart but fast.
“The first week that the pig was there, me, and I think four other policemen, were just tracking through that bush part and it was near impossible, he just ran straight through.”
Rachel Maher is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. She has worked for the Herald since 2022.
