Bradley the pig is back home at the Woodstock Farm Sanctuary in High Falls after an expensive 10-day sojourn at Cornell University’s Nemo Farm Animal Hospital, where he was treated for arthritis with steroids and antibiotics.

“We are happy to have him back and now able to stand and move around without obvious pain,” said Herve Breuil, the sanctuary’s director. It didn’t come cheap, he said, estimating the cost of treating the 600-pound animal at as much as $5,000.

Breuil also offered a tip on how to coax Bradley out of the van that brought him home: Peanuts, shells and all – and lots of them. Bradley was greeted at the sanctuary’s Big Pig Farm on Saturday by several female pigs, who grunted greetings as they pressed against the restraining bars of their pen. Bradley seemed happy to be home and was directed to a private area where he’ll stay for a few days, munching on more peanuts and some hay.

Why Nemo Hospital, a four-hour drive away in Ithaca? It’s the closest large animal veterinary facility, along with others at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and Tufts College in Boston. While our area has several equine veterinarians, in Rhinebeck, Pine Bush, and Gardiner, they don’t handle pigs, and most veterinarians only treat small animals such as dogs, cats and rabbits and some birds. Nemo was itself named for another much-loved pig, remembered as “playful as a puppy” and brought there for treatment of lymphoma.

“Cornell is the closest to us,” Breuil said. “But it is a long way away.”

Bradley, rescued as a piglet seven years ago from a disastrous small facility along with other young pigs, is among the tiny fraction of 125 million swine raised for slaughter in huge sheds. The Ulster County SPCA helped in his rescue. While pigs can live about 14 years, most don’t last past the age of three.

The non-profit sanctuary will welcome visitors for an up-close view of its two dozen or so pigs when temperatures start to warm. It cares for some 400 rescued animals. For more information, see https://woodstocksanctuary.org/meet-the-animals.