Popular Pumpkin Pilfering Pet Pig Lives In Austin

AUSTIN, TX —Move over Matthew McConaughey and Bevo, Austin has a new celebrity town - Carlton, the pet pig.

Patch was tipped off to Carlton's presence by one of his neighbors. But apparently he's become quite a star in the neighborhood and online.

His story was told by Amanda, Carlton's human mom, in a recent video on Facebook.

During previous Halloween seasons, Carlton, a rescue pig, stole and ate every pumpkin he and Amanda came across during their walks through the neighborhood. Carlton even escaped his own yard and went to neighbors' houses to eat their Halloween pumpkins.

Amanda said she apologized to her neighborhood group for Carlton's behavior. However, nobody got too upset, she said. In fact, people started donating their pumpkins to Carlton.

According to the video, Carlton ate so many pumpkins in the front yard, that the seeds were strewn all over the yard, and eventually buried.

"In the spring, a complete surprise to me, my entire front yard sprouted into a pumpkin patch," Amanda said in the video. "So now, Carlton grows his own pumpkins."

In the video, Amanda said she also asked neighbors what they do with their pumpkins after Halloween. It turns out, they were just composting them or throwing them away.

So, last Halloween, Amanda said she asked the neighbors if she and Carlton could have their pumpkins.

"They went above and beyond," Amanda said. "Over 2,000 pumpkins were donated."

But Carlton was never going to hog all the pumpkins for himself, so Amanda donated them to the same pig rescue where she rescued Carlton.

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