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This Little Piggy Was Found Along The Interstate

(CBS) -- A pig was rescued from the westbound lanes of Interstate 80-94 in Gary on Thursday afternoon - and the good Samaritan who took it in says it must have jumped out of a moving trailer.

The pig went from a trailer to the pavement on 80-94.

And then to the rescuing arms of Lori Maleckar, who's head of the not-for-profit rescue and rehab organization Pig Pen Inc., based in Cedar Lake, Indiana.

"It was almost like a leap for freedom today. Because they were out of there."

Lori Maleckar said her understanding is: some pigs were being transported. And several of them jumped out. And the trucks's driver was able to round them all up but one.

The one she later agreed to take.

Maleckar has taken it to a vet. Meantime, someone else called her to report six piglets were found along I-65.

I'm just going to keep driving on the highway and see if I can find any - and bring them in," she tells WBBM's Steve Miller.

"Their intelligence is so high. So when you abandon one or abuse one - they have the understanding of language and the understanding of feeling of like a 3-to-5-year-old child," Maleckar said.

"So this is like a toddler being on the road right now."

Maleckar said she takes in pigs that are abandoned, abused, sheltered, and from other different situations.

"And literally, most often, they are crying," she said. "And they are crying real tears. And they will go into a depression like a child would or a person would."

Maleckar finds homes for some pigs. Others she fosters in her home.

"They got litter trained. They're basically - everybody comes in, 'They're like a dog.'

"And I'm like, 'Yeah, well...'"

Unfortunately around 8:30 p.m. Thursday night WBBM was notified that the pig Maleckar had rescued died.

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