The worldwide phenomenon that is Esther the Wonder Pig whose owners have raised more than $500,000 to bring an over-sized CT scanner to Canada, has been diagnosed with cancer.
In a Facebook post on Esther the Wonder Pig’s page, her owners, Steve Jenkins and Derek Walter, announced that the nearly 300-kilogram pig was tested last week.
Veterinarians found four tumours on her mammary glands, one of which was cancerous.
Jenkins says that the cancer appears to be in its early stages and that the disease has not spread. The post added that “Everything happens for a reason.”
Jenkins and Walter recently made news as they raised over half a million dollars to buy Canada’s first large animal CT scanner for the Ontario Veterinary College at the University of Guelph.
Esther has become an internet sensation, garnering over 1.3 million likes on her Facebook page, over 460,000 followers on Instagram, with another 51,600 followers on Twitter.
Esther lives with her owners on a sanctuary near Georgetown, Ont., near Halton Hills.
— With files from the Canadian Press