How “brave” pig herded sheep to save them from dog attack—then fought back

A rescued piglet paid back the woman who took him in by saving her other farm animals from a dog attack.

Lindsay Lenz takes in dumped, injured or lost farm animals to her Missouri hobby farm, Just One More Farm. One member of her farm family is a potbelly pig named Possum, whom she took in as a runt “falling way behind in growth,” she told Newsweek.

After Possum and his sibling, Wilby, gained some strength thanks to being hand-fed by Lenz, she moved them into her herd of sheep and goats—and quickly realized Possum had a talent many will recognize from the movie Babe.

“I saw my herd coming into the overnight holding pen, hot off the pasture expansion. I started filming because seeing them run is always fun. Imagine my surprise when I watched the tail end of the herd come in the gate and realized Possum was hot on their heels, herding them,” she said.

A video of Possum herding the flock went viral, and followers quickly joined in watching Lenz’s updates on farm life to see Possum work the herd.

“Possum will bring the herd up if I call them, making sure to leave no straggler behind. It makes my life so much easier,” she said.

But disaster struck earlier this year when two large dogs got onto the property and began chasing the sheep. Possum worked to protect his flock, as shown in a viral video posted on Lenz’s TikTok account, @justonemorefarm, on September 21.

With close to 2 million views and 250,000 likes, the clip tells the story of how Possum sensed danger and “pushed the herd up the hill to the house.”

Lenz told Newsweek: “The entire herd came running up over the main hill and ran straight into the holding pen and shed. As usual, Possum was bringing up the rear. I almost looked away but then saw Possum stop, turn around and take off like a bat out of hell back down the hillside. I looked out across my pasture and saw two large dogs running towards him.”

Realizing their protective farm dog was trapped outside the fence because they had put up a panel to prevent a baby goat from escaping, Lenz and her husband leaped into action, rushing toward Possum and the dogs.

“As I got to the top of the hill, Possum came running back past me, and I could tell from the red I saw that he was greatly injured. I ran down the hill, after the dogs, who were now headed to the back woods on my property,” she said.

After the dogs were called off, Lenz went to Possum, who had “dozens of bites,” with his left ear “literally hanging on” by a strip of skin.

“He had to go immediately into surgery, to remove the ear and wash out the dog bites. He was able to come home with multiple surgical drains in his head and face, as well as pain meds and antibiotics,” Lenz said. “We returned to the vet every four or five days, and he has had two hospitalizations for wound therapy and a CT scan.”

As Lenz’s video went viral, she set up a GoFundMe page, titled “Help Possum the Hero Sheep-Herding Pig Heal,” to help with his injuries, and was blown away by the support it’s received so far. She also praised the veterinarians for caring for Possum, saying they “love Possum and spoil him whenever he has to go stay or visit.”

Setting up the fundraiser “wasn’t something we did lightly, asking for help with his medical bills,” Lenz said, but the couple soon realized how much his injuries would cost. The first emergency hospital bill had wiped out much of their winter hay savings, and Possum suffered from multiple ear infections.

Lenz, who also posts to Instagram under the handle @just.one.more.farm and Facebook under Just One More Farm, has “lost sleep” worrying about the dogs coming back. But is grateful for the “overwhelmingly kind and supportive” response to Possum’s story.

And while he is slowly recovering, “he will not be able to go back to his beloved life of living with and steering the herd around,” Lenz said. “The rain, dust, grass debris, mud and water from the lake would all potentially give him more infections that could debilitate him, permanently. It would be devastating for him.”

There is hope, though. Possum could undergo a total ear canal ablation, an expensive procedure that would “result in his earhole growing shut and healing over without risking him having infections.”

Lenz and her husband, both retired Army combat medics who have been on multiple deployments, are watching over Possum closely. But she worries he has been “deeply wounded emotionally…and hasn’t quite been himself yet since the attack.”

TikTok users were moved by his heroic story, with one referencing Babe, where a pig learns to expertly herd sheep. The user wrote: “That’ll do pig. That’ll do. What a brave and precious baby. I hope you get justice for Possum.”

“I’m absolutely sobbing, what a brave little soul,” another said, adding, “We love you possum.”

One user wrote: “The way he made sure nobody got left behind what a hero.”

And as another put it: “Pigs are so intelligent. He is beautiful.”

Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@newsweek.com with some details about your best friend and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.

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