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Russell Shealy secretly asked Santa Claus for a pet pig for Christmas one year, but cried when he didn’t see one under the tree. So his parents extended their own offer — If he got all As, they would buy him one. 

Shealy’s mother, Maureen, said he had problems completing homework, so she thought it was “case closed.” But by the spring, Shealy went into “overdrive” as a student, Maureen said, eventually finishing with straight A’s in his classes. 

In disbelief, Maureen even called Shealy’s teacher asking if one of his grades could be bumped down to an 89. But sure enough, his parents stayed true to their word and researched where to find a pig in Georgia.

For 14 years, Shealy’s pet pig, Bella, has been back home in Cartersville, Georgia. When he’s home from playing goalie at Syracuse, he takes Bella on walks. He has pictures of Bella saved on his phone and is always excited to talk about her, blushing sometimes. Bella’s also in the family Easter photos, which don’t include the family’s two dogs. 

“She’s basically been there my whole life, but it’s not as weird as you think it’d be,” said Patrick, Shealy’s brother. 

It started in third grade when Shealy received an assignment to read a nonfiction book and give a presentation about the subject. He picked a book about potbelly pigs and realized he needed one.

The Shealy brothers with Bella on Easter Sunday in 2015. Courtesy of Russell Shealy

Maureen still has no idea why her son wanted a pig, surmising it just “struck his fancy.” 

Maureen said the family found Bella at Paradise Valley Farm in Cleveland, Georgia, an hour and a half away from Cartersville. The farm had a good reputation and received some national recognition after Bella’s mother had appeared on the Discovery Channel show “Dirty Jobs.”  

They wanted a tiny pig that would grow to around 130 pounds. That’s how they settled on Bella.

“A miniature pig is under 150 pounds and Bella’s 135 pounds. So she’s still lovable,” Shealy said.

From the jump, Shealy “adored” Bella. The rest of the family has called her “the best pet ever.”

“You can just tell that she’s just loving life,” Maureen said.

Bella will run around in their backyard. Sometimes she’ll take laps around the neighborhood with Shealy or anyone else in the family. Maureen said whenever it’s a cool and sunny day out, the family calls it “a great pig day.” Bella will even come into the house, hop on the couch and sleep.

The Shealys keep her on a strict diet, eating specially formulated pig food meant for older and mature pigs. She will get a cup of that in the morning and a cup of that in the afternoon, occasionally snacking on fruits and vegetables. But never table scraps, Maureen said.

Patrick and Maureen both said Bella is “low maintenance” compared to the dogs. Bella knocks on the door when she wants to come in and stand by it when she wants to go to the bathroom. 

If the family leaves Bella for a long period and she needs to “relieve herself,” she will go in one of the family’s showers. Maureen said no one trained Bella to do that. Decades of scientific research shows pigs are highly intelligent animals with basic cognition. 

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Sometimes, Bella goes into places she isn’t supposed to. One morning, Maureen noticed Bella walking “very funny.” She thought the pig slept on her legs wrong because Bella struggled to walk.

But Maureen went into the pantry, where a whole case of Michelob Ultra was torn up on the ground. Bella was drunk.

Bella spent the rest of the day outside, drunkenly laying in mud while the Shealys fixed their pantry.  Since then, she’s grown a taste for alcohol, Maureen said, and has continued breaking into the pantry, popping the tops off of aluminum cans. 

Patrick said Shealy’s determination to get Bella showed he could put his mind to anything and achieve it. At one point, Shealy played on five different soccer teams at once. Maureen said he never complained about practice as he made his way through soccer academies such as Atlanta United of Major League Soccer.

Along that journey, Shealy always had Bella. After a rough day at practice, Shealy and his brother would come home to Bella. Sometimes, they practiced on a soccer net in their backyard. Bella would walk into the net and they shot past her, sometimes getting “indignant” if she got hit.

“When you’ve had conversations with him, he’s this laid back, whacky (guy). He’s a goalkeeper,” Syracuse head coach Ian McIntyre said. “If you look up ‘goalkeeper’ in the dictionary, there’s probably a picture of him holding his pet pig.”

Published on October 19, 2022 at 11:11 pm

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