In Hollywood, actor Kevin Bacon is a big star. In Wisconsin's Kenosha County, Kevin Bacon is one big pig!
The 450-pound porker wandered from his pen last week then moseyed on down the road, where he was caught hamming it up on the Molgaard family's security camera.
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“My wife spotted an unusual shaped figure on our driveway camera walking along our garage,” Jake Molgaard said Wednesday, adding that the bulky stranger "ended up coming right up to our back door.”
Well, what do you do when a large, four-legged neighbor visits your home on a Friday night?
“My wife started feeding him right away,” said Molgaard, 40, a local business owner. “That’s what she does with every animal that comes to our backyard.”
After the couple watched Kevin scarf down some apples, rice cakes, tomatoes and carrots, Molgaard said it was time for them to figure out whom their new friend belonged to.
Molgaard lives in Brighton, about 38 miles (61 kilometers) south of Milwaukee, and is not a farmer, but there are farms nearby. He called a farmer friend, who not only knew the pig's owner but had his phone number.
The owner was out of town but said he would appreciate it if the family could “lure” the big pig back to his pen. And oh, yeah, he added, Kevin is partial to cookies, marshmallows and other sweets.
The couple gathered up some tempting treats, then led Kevin down a trail and along a side road where the sheriff was enlisted as an escort for safety's sake.
The Kenosha County sheriff’s office says on its Facebook page that it dispatched deputies after receiving the “typical county call."
The deputies arrived, took a few photos with Kevin and left smiling, Molgaard said.
Mr. Bacon and his new temporary caretakers finished the rest of the journey on their own, with the Molgaards' 16-year-old daughter hopping on the pig’s hairy back to get him moving again every time he thought twice about going home.
About a mile and 2 1/2 hours later — by the glow of a flashlight in the darkness — Kevin Bacon was led safe and sound back into his pen.
“He is a massive creature, but the owner says he’s a gentle giant,” Molgaard said. "We have been over there every day giving him a dozen donuts.”