A pair of miniature piglets touched down in Ottawa Monday night — with some help from the pilots and crew of Air Canada Flight 474 and a generous couple from the Okanagan valley.
For Matt Nooyen and Lianne Guilbeault, the arrival of "Picksie" and "Kelowna" marked the end of a heart-wrenching journey.
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Nooyen and Guilbeault were devastated last month after an acquaintance apparently mistook their pair of pot-bellied pigs Pickles and Rosie for wild boars and killed the pets just metres from the couple's Navan home.
A couple from B.C., hearing word of the tragedy, reached out to Nooyen and Guilbeault with an offer to replace the pets with newly born piglets just in time for Christmas.
"I felt so bad for them," said Jeanne Kaminski in an interview earlier this month from her West Kelowna, B.C., hobby farm.
"I was actually in tears when I read the story."
Free 4,000 km flight
Jeanne and her husband Torsten Kaminski got in touch with Nooyen and Guilbeault with an offer of free Christmas pigs.
Air Canada then swooped in with an offer to fly the pigs from Kelowna to Ottawa, free of charge.
Those month-and-a-half old piglets touched down just before 6 p.m. on Monday after 24 hours and 4,000 kilometres of travelling.
Picksie and Kelowna, settling into their new accommodations at home in eastern Ontario. (Lianne Guilbeault)
The young pigs departed Kelowna together in a single, shared travel crate Sunday afternoon.
Picksie and Kelowna spent most of Monday cooling their hooves in an Air Canada cargo facility in Toronto, where employees let them out of their travel kennel and give them some exercise.
"They will be skittish and squirmy, so whoever takes them out let them know they will squeal like crazy but it's OK, you are not hurting them," said Kaminski in a set of instructions she included with the travellers.
"When holding them, they DO NOT like their feet to dangle!"
'We're going to spoil them to death'
"I'm beyond excited, I couldn't control my emotions all day," said Guilbeault as she waited in Ottawa.
Finally, the piglets arrived.
Nooyen and Guilbeault each took one of the piglets from the carrier and though much squealing ensued, it was less then Nooyen had expected.
"[It] just goes to show you how well taken care of they were since they left," said Guilbeault.
"No more flying for these guys," quipped Nooyen as he and Guilbeault each cradled one of the young animals.
Ottawa couple welcomes piglets from B.C. after hunter killed pet pigs0:59
Nooyen said he wasn't worried about the wine-country piglets making the adjustment to life in Ottawa.
"We're going to spoil them to death so they probably won't see outside for the first few days anyway," he laughed.
Guilbeault sent a picture to CBC News when the piglets were finally in their new home in Navan.
"So far so good. Now they're beat — and sleeping!" she said.
Sens reach out
Nooyen and Guilbeault have been the toast of the town since the story came to light.
Earlier this month Nooyen took a call from Tom Anselmi, the president of the Ottawa Senators.
Anselmi had heard the story of the tragic shooting of the couple's pigs and handed them a pair of tickets to this weekend's Heritage Classic outdoor game.
Meanwhile, Dundas Veterinary Services in Winchester, Ont., contacted the couple with an offer to help with vaccinations for the new residents.
