Tamworth Two

The Tamworth Two were a pair of pigs that escaped while being unloaded from a lorry at an abattoir in the English town of Malmesbury, Wiltshire in January 1998.

After making this statement, Dijulio was offered large sums of money by media outlets and animal lovers to save the pigs from the dinner table.

Butch was eventually captured on the evening of 15 January, when she and Sundance were spotted foraging in the garden of a local couple, Harold and Mary Clarke.

[1] Sundance was taken to a veterinary surgery where the vet who examined him, Fran Baird, said: "He is a little bit shaky but doesn't appear to be any the worse for it.

He also said that Sundance would be spending the weekend at the surgery but that precautions had been taken to ensure he did not escape once more: "There are padlocks on the doors, which are more than six feet high and chained together.

[1] The Tamworth Two even attracted observations in Parliament: ex-opposition Environment spokesman George Howarth compared the pair’s flight with that of the Conservative Party.

[2] In June 2004, a campaign was launched to create a statue in Malmesbury to commemorate the Tamworth Two, together with a sculpture trail along the River Avon.

In 2009, readers of Press Gazette voted the Daily Mail’s coverage of the Tamworth Two 25th in a list of "the best British journalism scoops of all time".

Executive producer Sally Woodward told the BBC: "The film tells how the story of Butch and Sundance became a legend, of how Britain once again took the underdog to their hearts – or in this instance, the under-pig – and in the process briefly made them the most famous fugitives in the world.

It also shows how contrary human beings are in their relationship with animals – how we are only too happy to tuck in to a pork chop, but are outraged when we want to capture a pig that has stolen our heart".