Burglars Flee House Screaming After Owner’s 17-Stone Pot-Bellied Pig Confronts The Hysterical Criminals

A gang of burglars got much more than they bargained for when they broke into one couple’s home, only to be confronted by the owner’s 17-stone pot-bellied pig.

Ludwig is a 2-year-old Canadian porker who wasn’t about to let any opportunistic crooks get lucky on his watch. When raiders forced their way into Ludwig’s property during the festive period, the courageous hog’s blood-curdling growls sent the terrified thieves running empty-handed into the night.

Ludwig’s proud owners, Mike Maughan and Liana Scholz, who live in Derby after emigrating from Canada last October, couldn’t be more grateful to their porky pet for protecting their property. As Mike explained.

“It was New Year’s Eve. When we came down in the morning, the door was open.The room was still warm so they can’t have been there for that long.They woke Ludwig up and he would have realised that we weren’t up and would have been disturbed.

“The noise he makes is like a low rumble that sounds like the biggest Rottweiler you can imagine so they just ran.There were things in there they could have taken, like a bike, but they just left.”

Liane explained to the Mirror that Ludwig is actually the first pot-bellied pig to be exported from Canada as a pet, and she sees him as less of a pig and more as a baby.

“Pigs are a nice pet because they are very intelligent but there is a trade-off. A pig is like a two or three-year-old toddler but he is a toddler who will never grow up and they live to around 20.Ludwig is my baby.

“The noises he makes are quite a nice low-decibel level generally, unless you are trying to make him do something he doesn’t want to, then it just sounds like he is being slaughtered.”

The pot-bellied growler was adopted from a refuge for beasts that have fallen foul of the various bylaws prohibiting the keeping of swine in small Canadian towns.

Liane insists she wouldn’t be without Ludwig, and revealed that the pot-bellied pet is extremely emotionally intelligent, to the point he cries real tears and understands sign language.

“As a house animal, he is well behaved and isn’t a destructive animal but I could see the potential for it. It’s the same with a dog. They get destructive because they are bored. So we make him little treat boxes that he has to figure out and he has toddler toys and dog toys.

“He is also a very emotional animal. As tough as he is physically, if he is really naughty I will shame him and send him outside. Then he cries and he actually sheds tears. Our bond is incredible – he only gets up when we get up. Until then he stays pretty quiet.”

Speaking of the night when Ludwig saved her and Mike’s bacon, Liane reflects that they now see their pet as both a guard pig and a hero.

“We got home at about midnight from a friend’s birthday party and tucked Ludwig safely up in bed like always. Once we have gone upstairs he rarely moves through the night, so we thought we’d find him there under his blanket in the morning.

“My husband had to be up for work at 6am the next day but when he came downstairs he saw that our front door was left hanging wide open. Ludwig was up – which is almost unheard of – roaming around and making noises. It was a very cold night and the room was still warm so it was just moments before that they had been sent running.

“Ludwig must have heard them and started growling. I wouldn’t be surprised if he started ramming the door or trotting towards the noise in the dark. He’s a big pig and, if he was coming at me and I didn’t know him, it would be scary. The burglars were disturbed by him when he woke up and then they made a run for it. If it wasn’t for him it could have been so so much worse.

“Instead of getting their hands on the things we really care about in our home – including the musical instruments we have upstairs worth £5,000 – all they took was an empty handbag and wallet which the police managed to recover a few days later. He’s like a guard pig. We are safe because he is downstairs, protecting us and our home. It was such a relief that he was there. He is our little hero.”