Political pork on Primary Day? Loose pig pokes around at Pelham polls 
 
 By JASON SCHREIBER 
 
 Union Leader Correspondent 
 
 An escaped pig pokes around after showing up at the polls in Pelham Tuesday morning. (Pelham Police Department) 
 
 PELHAM – A pudgy pig appeared at the polls in Pelham on Tuesday as voters were casting their ballots in the presidential primary.The 600-pound porker escaped from a nearby farm where it was being boarded and surprised voters when it wandered around the parking lot Pelham High School.Police were called to the area of Burns and Marsh roads around 9:08 a.m. for a report of a loose pig.Officers arrived and found the pig on Marsh Road in the area of the high school.The pig eventually made its way to the high school parking lot where voters were parking at the polls.Police Capt. Stephen Toom said the pig spent about 40 minutes hanging out in the parking lot while officers tried to track down its owner.Toom said officers learned that the pig was being boarded in Pelham but that its owner is from Lowell, Mass.The pig tried to poke the police, but no one was injured.“He was nudging with an open mouth, but there was no broken skin and no ripped clothing,” Toom said.Officers helped corral the pig, but Pelham Sgt. Michael Pickles wasn't one of them.The owner eventually came to the school and picked up the pig.Toom admitted that a wayward pig was the last thing he was expecting on Primary Day.He began preparing for the press calls as soon as he heard the first report of the pig at the polls.“When I heard it going over the radio I said, ‘This is going to blow right up,'” he said with a laugh.jschreiber@newstote.com 
 
 
 
 Animals Politics Presidential General News Pelham ||||| PELHAM -- Matthew Reiter was working construction at Pelham High School on Tuesday morning -- as New Hampshire voters cast their primary ballots inside -- when he saw something strange. 
 
 "Somebody said, 'Wow, look at the size of that pig,'" he said. "I look out, and there was this enormous pig out there." 
 
 At first, he thought the animal was with someone as they went to vote. But then he saw it milling about without any particular owner. 
 
 "She spent most of the time just nosing around the entrance of the polling station, like really curious," he said. "Wanted to get in, maybe cast a ballot, I'm not sure." 
 
 Police responded to the area of Burns and Marsh Roads about 9:08 a.m. for a report of a loose pig. 
 
 This wayward pig crashed Pelham High School during polling this morning. (COURTESY PELHAM POLICE) 
 
 They later found it near the high school, making its way through the parking lot as residents went inside to vote. 
 
 The sow, which weighed more than 600 pounds, was from a local farm. 
 
 Reiter watched as the pig explored the parking lot, the school sidewalk and later the door to the school. 
 
 Officers trailed the pig as it mosied through the parking lot and made its way to the polling entrance. 
 
 "He was around the polling place for probably a good 20 minutes and they didn't know what to do with him," Reiter said. 
 
 The pig's owner eventually came to the school to retrieve the pig, according to Pelham police. 
 
 The pig -- technically a sow -- was then given a two-car escort home, Reiter said. 
 
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 "Squad car in front, squad car behind," he said. "And a pig on a leash." 
 
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– Talk of politicians lining up at the Washington trough must have sounded pretty good to this would-be voter: A 600-pound pig was found outside a New Hampshire polling station after escaping from a nearby farm, the Union Leader reports. Construction worker Matthew Reiter tells the Lowell Sun that he was working at Pelham High School when the animal arrived. "She spent most of the time just nosing around the entrance of the polling station, like really curious," he says. "Wanted to get in, maybe cast a ballot, I'm not sure." The pig spent around 40 minutes surprising primary voters in the parking lot before police corralled it and contacted its owner. Reiter says it got a two-car escort: "Squad car in front, squad car behind. And a pig on a leash."