“Mountain Misfits Rescue”
Rehabilitation, Structure & Safety for Animals

By Stephanie Riveria

      How do two military veterans share an idea to establish an animal rescue for animals; and that rescue happens to be focused primarily on pigs?

    It all started back in the summer through the fall of 2018 when Jason Potalivo, a disabled military veteran from WNY, began working on a farm in North Carolina through a chef program called, “Farm-to-Table”.

  “After 6 years of active service time, my military buddy and I worked directly with hogs, and it was through this program I realized pigs recognize and learn from human interactions and crave attention and challenges,” Potalivo said.

      This peaked Potalivo’s curiosity, leading him to work on his military buddy’s farm over the next 3 years, breeding and raising pigs. It was this experience that helped him to understand not just how complex these animals were, but how quickly they adapt to learning basic skills and expressing human emotions.

     “My buddy said, ‘You cannot train a pig,’ and thought the idea of it was insane,”; but Potalivo’s compassion for animals grew when he acquired one of his friend’s piglets, an American Landrace that he named Chester. “He became my emotional support animal (ESA) and lived in my house harmoniously with my dogs and cats. I took the time to challenge Chester just to see how smart he was. From opening doors to playing sports, I began to see Chester understood complex instructions that other domesticated animals didn’t normally pick up.”

     Chester, now standing at a whopping 900 pounds, is gentler than your average dog, prefers a king mattress with a ton of blankets and even toys to decorate his areas.

     “There is a common misconception that pigs are garbage eating, mud laying, lazy animals,” Potalivo expressed. “What many people do not know is pigs are one of the most intelligent animals on earth, and only rely on mud to cool off or to protect themselves from harmful insects or the sun – they actually like to be clean.”

     Once having raised, trained and domesticated Chester, the concept of “Mountain Misfits Rescue” was born upon Potalivo’s move to Little Valley, New York in 2021.

      “We soon realized people were breeding and eating mini pigs out in the country, so we decided to take in all the neglected breeding mini pigs and even some adult full fledge commercial hogs. We don’t believe in the consumption of pork due to the lack of knowledge and health concerns from the main factory farms that pork comes from. The conditions are subpar and cause a lot of health and behavioral issues in the hogs when kept in close confined areas. Pigs naturally do better when they are raised free range.”

      In the almost 3 years of their own financial standing, making sacrifices solely for the rescue, Mountain Misfits has managed to save 6 additional mini pigs from terrible and unfortunate circumstances and brought them all to rehabilitation with gentle hands and the provided structure and safety.

     “Our goal at Mountain Misfits is to provide education to the public about the wonders of the animals we have on our property,” Potalivo said. “While the majority of the animals we care for are pigs, we have taken in others, including a 22-year-old autism certified pony named Whisper who loves children.”

    Mountain Misfits is open to providing educational tours at their sanctuary and hopes with the publicity, they can change the directive about hogs in the United States.

      “We want to show people that pigs can be a man’s best friend as well. They deserve love and compassion from today’s generations and are not just food, but also valuable farm hands. They move earth and can help direct flows of water by sealing the ground using their bodily oils. They eat the invasive bushes and shrubs in the pasture along with keeping a certain style of order and flow within the rescue.”

       Mountain Misfits encourages people to spend time on their pasture with the rescues in person. Those interested in visiting can call or make an appointment directly on their website: mountainmisfits.org