Cotton Branch Sanctuary Provides Lifeline for Pigs

By Sydney Lewis

Joshua Carpenter and Evan Costner – co-directors of Cotton Branch Farm Sanctuary – are often met with the gruff greetings of several potbellied pigs when they step through their front door.

The couple moved from Charlotte onto the property in 2017 after taking on executive roles. Founded in Lexington County in 2004, the sanctuary now houses about 200 pigs, 40 of which are adoptable. Many of the pigs are potbellied, but their numbers also include rescued feral and farm pigs.

The farm is run entirely with donations and volunteers. Carpenter and Costner make their money in other ways. They run a nearby event space together, and Carpenter sometimes teaches yoga.

The pigs are sorted into compatible herds based on age, metabolism, behavior and medical needs and live relatively peaceful lives that once may have seemed impossible. The sanctuary is home to many pigs in need of special care or rehabilitation, whether caused by abuse, neglect or genetic abnormalities. That number includes Jules – the matriarch of the “greeter pigs” – who has chemical burns covering her snout, and Pickles, a young pig found with rope embedded nearly two inches into his skin. The pigs are provided with both emergency and routine veterinary care while at the sanctuary.

Most Cotton Branch residents show a marked improvement in happiness as well as health after arriving, Carpenter said.

“So many of them got here and would run from you and not come near you,” he said. “Most of them, we see a 180-turnaround, where they’ve gone from running from you to running to you.”

The effect can go both ways, with the Cotton Branch team planning to involve a licensed therapist to build animal emotional support groups and workshops in the future.