It’s a ‘tail’ of a pig who faced a bear and won.
Barbie Q lives on Ruff Acres, a hobby farm in Sooke, B.C., with three goats, two sheep, many pigs, chickens, ducks, guinea fowl, four dogs and seven cats.
But she’s now the hero of the farm after scaring a bear away who had entered their pen.
“I was shocked,” owner Crystal Walls told Global News. “I mean, we have a goat and Barbie is terrified of them. She screams. She runs away when he comes within two feet of her. So I was kind of shocked that she took on a bear.”
But there’s no hogwash here – the encounter was captured on security camera.
Walls was on vacation in Oregon when she received a message from her house sitter that something had happened.
“So my house sitter came to the fence to feed the animals, and she noticed that none of them were greeting her at the fence,” she said. “Every time they see you or hear the door open in the morning, they all congregate to the fence for their morning feeding and they weren’t there. And she thought that was a little suspicious. She noticed a feed bag on the ground and when she came down, all the animals are kind of eating the grain on the ground.”
Christy Brookes was watching the animals that weekend and said she could tell something wasn’t right immediately.
“I saw a bag of feed at the back of the barn on the ground, empty, which is for the pigs and for one of the goats,” she said.
“If the other sheep and goats get into it, it could be bad news. They could get sick and die. So I saw all the animals eating it at the back of the fence or the barn.”
They realized a bear had breached the fence but had no idea what they would find when they pulled up the security footage.
“It was pretty amazing to see old Babs protecting the barnyard,” Brookes said.
But she admits she wasn’t surprised.
“She charged me the first time that I ever met her. And I know that she’s the boss and she knows that, too.”
Barbie Q can be seen charging at the bear as it approaches her. The bear then goes a short distance away and sits down, raising its paw, almost as if it’s telling the plucky pig to calm down.
But she also helped corral and protect the rest of the animals in the barn, making sure they were safe.
“It was super impressive. Like I said, I think she was partially protecting, but also she wanted to show this bear that she was the boss,” Brookes said.
Walls said they are now electrifying the fence to make sure everyone is protected the next time they travel and take the guard dogs with them.
But it seems like Barbie Q’s star is rising.
“It’s been unreal,” Walls said. “My phone has never been so busy. I can’t believe how much attention she’s gotten.”
But Brookes said she’s not surprised.
“I love her even more than I did before, but she still feels the same way,” she said. “And it’s not so much love for me, but that’s okay.”
As for the bear, that little piggy made it go wee wee wee all the way home.