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Pig Island spared from flooding

The San Joaquin River is littered with islands, and one of those islands is inhabited by pigs but recent flooding has kept volunteer caretakers from feeding them.

Pig Island is what locals call it, and the location is only accessible by boat.

Blair Hake has been checking on the pigs for several years.

"I haven't been out to the island since December. We were worried the water forced them to swim away," said Hake, who has taken on the roll as one of the unofficial care takers.

It's unclear who owns the pig. Hake says an individual put them on the island to eat weeds and hyacinth. Hake tries to check on the hogs a couple times every month but when high waters flooded the island, the pigs disappeared.

Hake took ABC10 to Pig Island to do a welfare check.

"I will honk the horn. Usually they come to the water's edge when I do that," said Hake from the captain seat of his boat.

It took several minutes, but one by one a family of pigs jumped into the river and started swimming towards the boat.

"They love apples," said Hake as the tosses fruit into the water.

In all, there are six pigs.

On the island, we found a makeshift plywood shelter nailed to a down tree.

"Someone must have come and put this shelter up recently," said Hake.

The pigs seemed to be well fed and have faired well off the islands vegetation for generations.

"I think this is the third generation of pigs. I think the little ones were born last spring," said Hake.

The island was muddy and littered with trash from recent flooding, but the pigs seemed to be in good spirits. I guess you could say the are in hog heaven.

If you don't have a boat, you can follow the pigs activity on their Facebook page.

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