Meet Pepper the 300-pound pig hamming it up for social media in Big Sur

BIG SUR, Calif. (KION-TV)- Meet Pepper! A 300-pound, three-and-a-half-year-old pig, living her best life on the beautiful coast of Big Sur.

It's a stark contrast to her beginning. She was one of three piglets found abandoned in the woods, only days after being born. Workers at the SPCA Monterey County bottle-fed and nursed them back to health.

Her adoptive family, was a foster failure as they say in the rescue world. They agreed to care for her during the pandemic and brought her home at six months old!

"It was never our intention to adopt a pig. I had to do a lot of convincing with my parents," said Stella Foster, Pepper's adopter. "She is very similar to a dog, I would say, but she is quite stubborn and has a lot of attitude. She's very active, loves going to the beach, loves playing with our dog Betty. She loves food, loves attention and she's a very emotional animal."

You may be surprised to know Pepper is an Instagram star. She has 100,000 followers and one video has more than 17 million views.

"Feels surreal in a sense and I can't wait to see where it goes," said Foster. "I was taking her for walks every day and had all of these videos accumulating on my phone and I thought, why not share them with the world? She brings a lot of happiness to me and my family and I just thought to myself, why not share these videos with the world and see what people think."

Foster says she's still amazed by the number of followers but what's most exciting and more meaningful is that Pepper's helping to change attitudes and beliefs about pigs. She says Pepper is extremely smart, emotional, funny, loving and playful.

"I have gotten so many comments and DM's about how these videos have brightened people's day and how it changed their perspective on pigs in general," said Foster. "I'm just saying, oh, she's living the life and I get a lot of people thanking me for giving her this life. And I think that is a really beautiful thing."

Pepper's popularity keeps growing, as of today, she has gained another one thousand followers. But her family wanted to point out that owning a pig is not for everyone, it requires a big commitment to care and lots of space and food, more so than a dog!

So if you're looking for some laughs today, be sure to check out Pepper. Her Instagram handle is @bigsur_pepperpig.