Please Share My Petition With Others!  Thank you for working together with me to help stop a contest which puts baby pigs in such unnecessary cruel distress while rewarding kids who caused it.

🫶All my contact info is located at the bottom⬇️.

🫶There's also contact info for people you could reach out to, so you could kindly ask them to PLEASE SUPPORT A NONANIMAL alternative to this disturbing pig scramble.

WHEN WE KNOW BETTER, WE MUST DO BETTER!

The pig scramble at the Shenandoah County Fair in Woodstock, VA needs to STOP. Your signature shows the promoters and legislators that you agree with me!  I would not choose to take the place of one of these poor piglets.  If I were a baby pig, I'd want to be treated kindly and hope others came to my rescue when they saw me being chased and dragged unwillingly. I personally wouldn't want to go home with someone who did that to me. 

In August 2024 (while we protested), 110 piglets endured this pig scramble while spectators and promoters looked on. In August 2025, when we protest over nearly 4 days straight, 100 sentient baby piglets were chased and dragged by kids. Google this event, the pictures are so disturbing. Look above at a photo we took as well. Sixty-five baby pigs in 2022 and one-hundred in 2023 according to the Northern Virginia Daily.  We held multiple protests against this egregious event to get it stopped and shed more light on this disgusting contest. It's 2026 and we're more educated on the mental health of animals and children. These pigs aren't willing participants and why are we cheering kids while they treat them this way?!? Children need to know how to pet and treat any animal appropriately. They can learn that from adults who actually show animals respect and kindness.

This pig scramble takes place outside in front of a grandstand. There's a trailer where all the piglets are kept pulled up near an area enclosed by a fence. Within the area along the fence are hay bales for the participating group of kids to sit on. Each group (according to age) can grease their hands to make it more difficult to hold toghtly to the legs of the piglet they're attempting to catch and drag to a pen. A few squealing piglets 3-4-months-old are hauled out and they amble over to stand close to each other. The atmosphere is extremely loud with yells and cheers. The children are given the go and off they go to cstch a piglet. As I mentioned the area is surrounded by a chain link fence, so it's inescapable for the animals. The piglets are seen trying to free their legs with strong jerking motions. Some children are crying while trying to keep a grip on the pig they caught to drag it to the pen. A couple years ago, multiple kids were pulling on ONE single piglet like tug-of-war. This is an animal, not a rubber band!  It's barbaric. The child who completes the task of dragging the piglet to the pen has the option of bringing this poor baby pig home. This scramble is completely unfair to these pigs, isn't it?  People register to participate, but the pigs have NO CHOICE. They are automatically signed up. Have you been in a situation where you were chased? How did that make you feel? Did you feel frightened or trapped? Did you want someone to come to your aid?

Promoters state winning a pig and bringing it home teaches kids how to care for a pig and about agriculture. I don't think this teaches those things. I think it teaches kids that continually chasing after a scared animal is ok and if they outlast it, they'll be rewarded with bringing the animal home. Why do we celebrate kids chasing an animal incessantly? If they bullied another child this way, they'd be reprimanded and told to respect the other child's social cues and boundaries. Most children exhibiting negative behavior toward another child would be told by an adult or teacher to stop. Fear is fear. I believe by allowing activities like this pig scramble,  we're saying to kids that it's ok to take control over something smaller than them and not let it go.

Pigs are prey animals and their natural instinct is to flee and to find safety. A live animal shouldn't be earned by first being chased, pounced on by greased hands, and caught. I don't believe this is just good fun. We must strive for empathy and help our kids learn it too. Empathy asks us to understand and share the feelings of another.  Let's not ignore, but see that these animals deserve so much better. They have real feelings and they're scared. Children are impressionable and they're taking cues from adults. Let's not support something that brings happiness to some while others suffer.

Woodstock, VA and surrounding towns acquire revenue from fair visitors spending money at their  restaurants, gas stations, and grocery stores as they attend this fair.  Although this event is free, it's something that brings more people into those fair gates and attendees spill into Woodstock.

I attended three Woodstock Town Council meetings speaking on how exceptionally cruel this contest is for pigs. I was told by some on the council that it teaches kids about agriculture and that the children learn how to take care of a pig. However, this SHOULDN'T be the first step of how to take care for a pig. Please don't forget how they "earned" their piglet. I realize this council doesn't decide fair events, but they represent this town and the one that profits the most. Anyone on that council who has read the articles or attended this scramble knows how it plays out for these piglets. It's disheartening. One article by the Northern Virginia Daily quoted someone who mentioned their kid's been practicing wrestling with the dog for fun. Why is it ok to practice wrestling with a dog for this disturbing contest?!

I've also attempted a few times and in a variety of ways to communicate with the Shenandoah County Fair Board and discuss nonanimal alternatives. They HAVEN'T acknowledged me at all. I have only spoken to general manager Dawn Burch who said she would relay my messages. Yes, EVERY phone message, email, and postage letter has gone UNANSWERED by this county fair board. 

For anyone who would say that it's been going on for years. First, let's not assume that everything has positive value just because it's had longevity and second, I can appreciate traditions and I have some of my own, but I believe this contest devalues pigs' lives. I have to ask how could a person who says they care about animals, support a pig scramble, where the actions of some children and adults directly contribute to pigs' distress? When I care about someone, I want to keep them safe and I don't like seeing them frightened. Finally, people can make NEW traditions, yes it's possible! Change led us to air travel, streaming services, cell phones, cars, washing machines, computers, and electricity, etc. I could go on and on!

Now getting back to the pigs, stress can be particularly hard on
them (remember they're prey animals) because their heart size is small relative to their body weight. They can move through stages of stress in minutes, which can lead to heart attacks and fatalities. They can suffer joint dislocations, broken legs/backs, and torn ligaments and abdominal walls if mishandled.  Let's not forget the overwhelming fear of this event with its loud noises by spectators and kids' screams and laughter in the summer air.  A couple years ago it was nearly 100 degrees. Can you just imagine if we saw puppies treated like the piglets in this scramble?  Most people would be horrified. I don't understand why some animals' wellbeing is worth more than others.

Have you seen pigs laying in
shallow water or mud? They use
mud and water to cool off like we would take a cool shower or jump in the pool.  Sweating is less effective for pigs since they have fewer sweat glands than humans, again relative to their size. This is also why overheating can be a problem in stressful contests like this if the weather is hot. You know pigs have been found to be as smart as three-year-old children. Yes, the same age as some of the kids that are chasing them in this contest! In fact, they've been found to be more intelligent than dogs.

In addition, pigs have excellent long-term memories and recall trauma and other humans and animals they met years ago, just like us.  Many people have had to deal with trauma they experienced years ago and might be able to understand what it's like to remember such a difficult time. Why can't we commiserate with how upsetting this chase must be for these animals?! I'm sure their fear is similar to those of cows chased at rodeos by someone with a rope to sling around their neck or legs.

The reason I state this information, is that it's important to educate ourselves about pigs and to see them as more than a fair event.  They're not just an object. Many consider them the fifth most intelligent animal in the world. They can recognize their names at two weeks of age! They have problem-solving abilities which allows them to navigate mazes, and they can even recognize themselves while looking in a mirror. Like us, they're social animals who often work together to solve challenges and they wag their tails when they recognize friends, just like dogs!  This is similar to how humans smile toward one another! Pigs even designate specific areas to defecate to keep their eating and sleeping areas clean. Humans do the same by utilizing bathrooms. Yes, pigs are actually clean animals! Lastly, sows sometimes sing to their piglets, much like human parents! However, someone or something's intelligence shouldn't dictate if we should pull their body's appendages in multiple directions or suspend them in the air by their ankles.

We don't always allow ourselves to see animals on a deeper level in order to relate to them, if we did (with any animals, yes including chickens, sheep, goats, fish, etc) we'd TREAT them differently. We'd SEE them differently.   For instance, chickens can remember 100 different faces of both humans or other chickens, have fantastic color vision, and use 30 different vocalizations.  If you want to know more about animals you could use the internet, read a book, or visit a reputable sanctuary. A REPUTABLE sanctuary DOES NOT breed animals over and over again to use the babies to entice attendees and they don't force animals to do tricks. You know some of us may have a we vs. them mentality and I believe that we're better than that!

So what's the plan?  Well, let's REPLACE this pigscramble with animal-free activities. Alternatively, children could have fun with bubbles, a sand box, a corn shucking contest, touch-a- truck, ring toss, potato sack races, stroller races with a stuffed animal (the kiddo who wins gets to keep the little stuffed toy),  greased up (with vegetable oil) watermelons that the children roll in a race, obstacle courses, relay races where two kids walk back to back with a beach ball between them, jump rope contests, cake/cookie walks, musical chairs, talent contest, etc. The music used during the cake/cookie walk and musical chairs could be from the concert artists that would be performing that week for further promotion.

Huge U.S. state fairs that bring in greater attendance than this little county fair don't promote pig scrambles. In 2024, Texas had nearly 2.4 million attendees, Minnesota nearly 2 million.  Iowa, Wisconsin, Tulsa, North Carolina had over 950,000 to over 1 million. Some of the large county fairs that also don't promote pig scrambles are Orange County with nearly over 1 million, San Diego County with nearly 900,000, and York State Fair (PA) with over 400,000 attendees. In fact, pig scrambles are banned in Minnesota and at the Common Grounds County Fair, due to the acknowledgement of people that pigscrambles aren't relevant with all the animal welfare info we have today. All of the above information, helps make the case that this pig scramble must go.

Animals deserve better. Let's not make light of what's really going on in this here.Not all the participants are having a great time. Here's your opportunity to choose compassion toward animals who need your voice. What's it going to be? Look the other way, or make the world just a little better for pigs and sign this petition? Not only did I refuse to look away, I created this petition and an Instagram to bring light to it. Please sign. My contact info ⬇️

***My Email: stoppigscrambleva@gmail.com

 ***Follow Me (to stay updated) Instagram: @stoppigscrambleva

🚨Contact the people below and ask them to display empathy and replace this pig scramble immediately. Unless they hear from you, this inhumane cycle continues. Let's break this cycle!

***Email: shenfair@shentel.net and call 540-459-3867 Kindly Ask The Shenandoah County Board Directors/Officers to refrain from holding this contest and replace it with a nonanimal one.

***Write: Shenandoah County Fair Association, Inc. P.O. Box 264 300 Fairgrounds Road Woodstock, VA 22664 USA

***The House Representative for this area is Ben Cline.

Call:  202-225-5431              Email:  rep.ben.cline@house.gov Write: The Honorable Ben Cline U.S. House of Representatives 2443 Rayburn House Office Building Washington DC 20515

***Governor Abigail Spanberger Phone Number- 804-786-2211 Email- Abigail.Spanberger@governor.virginia.gov

***Senator Mark Warner

919 East Main Street
Suite 630
Richmond, VA 23219
Phone Number: 804-775-2314 

***Senator Tim Kaine                             919 EAST MAIN STREET, SUITE 970
Richmond, VA 23219
Phone: (804) 771-2221

***Timmy French, District 1

Room No: 603
Senate of Virginia
P. O. Box 396
Richmond, VA 23218
Phone: (804) 698-7501
Fax: (804) 698-7651
Email Address
senatorfrench@senate.virginia.gov

P.O. Box 628
Woodstock, VA 22664
Phone: (540) 325-8767

Thanks for signing! Please contact me with this email @stoppigscrambleva@gmail.com with any questions. Thanks for your compassion and empathy!