A pet pig escaped its enclosure on Southeast Delta Street in Snoqualmie and had a small adventure on Sunday, Jan. 26. With the help of the Snoqualmie Police Department, though, the animal was returned home, safe and sound, in the early afternoon.

“I don’t know how they did it — it’s a big pig!” Snoqualmie Police Chief Steve McCulley. “It might be tame enough that it just comes along, but after a while, you learn to come prepared. I usually carry a leash.”

McCulley said he wasn’t involved in the incident, but he was familiar with the pig.

“This pig has a rap sheet!” he joked, recounting a time about two years ago when the pig nearly charged him, as he was searching the area for a fleeing thief. The pig, probably agitated by the commotion, was safely inside his fence, though, and couldn’t reach McCulley.

The pig may have been agitated again on Sunday, because it was initially aggressive to the police officer. Before long, though, it was safe at home, in its fence alongside the house.

“I think everybody knows about the pig in that area,” McCulley said, since it’s lived there for years. There is no law against keeping the pig, either, which McCulley says gives Snoqualmie its own charm. “It’s kind of like people with their chickens,” he explained.

Familiar or not, though, McCulley urges people to call the police if they encounter an unexpected animal in their way.

“If (you) see an animal like that running loose, yes call the police,” McCulley said. “Especially if it’s a pig!”

The number to call is always 9-1-1, he added. If it’s a non-emergency like a loose pig (or chicken), the dispatcher will route your call to the right contact.