Betty’s birthday bash

Wearing a custom-made tutu, a tiara and fairy wings, Betty celebrated her first birthday with a chocolate mudcake.

Owner Cindy Rhodes said Betty had shared her birthday with “her sister”, 31-year-old daughter Bianca, who was also given a mudcake to celebrate.

“It’s been two months of having something positive to look forward to,” said Ms Rhodes, who decided two months ago that Betty should have a birthday party.

When Betty first came to Hazelbrook almost a year ago, she caused quite a commotion when she busted out of her backyard pen and could not be caught for 24 hours.

After venturing too close to the highway and wandering in and out of neighbours’ yards, she was eventually cornered by a dog and returned to Ms Rhodes.

“She’s settled in and doesn’t think about escaping now,” Ms Rhodes said.

“She’s been under strict security ever since,” she said with a laugh.

But Betty isn’t just confined to her pen. Ms Rhodes walks her around Hazelbrook in a modified dog harness, and when she was a baby she slept in her bed until she got too big.

Fully grown now, her bed is a mattress in the laundry and her best friends are a chicken and a duck. “They sit together all day,” Ms Rhodes said.

Betty is not short on animal playmates, with horses, sheep and dogs also sharing the Hazelbrook home. 

Ms Rhodes said Betty was cleaner than a dog and intelligent, and knew what bedtime was and “going for a walk”.

“When I call her she comes running,” Ms Rhodes said.

“She squeals when she’s hungry. She knows when I get up in the morning.”

Betty loves her daily diet of fresh fruit and vegetables and a bread and bran mash.

“I’ve always thought having a pig would be really cool,” Ms Rhodes said.

“I can’t eat bacon or pork now. Pork is off the menu.”

The saddleback/tamworth pig born in Londonderry has well and truly found a place in Ms Rhodes’ heart.

“I don’t want a boy pig and to breed them,” she explained.

“She’s Betty and she’s special.”