Life is good these days for Jack, a Vietnamese Pot-Bellied pig who, along with his partner Diane, was rescued by Tiverton’s West Place Sanctuary five years ago. In fact, if you look closely, you may detect what seems to be a smile on his wrinkly, weathered face.

Jack is 15 — elderly for Pot-Bellied pigs — and he had a very rough winter, according to the sanctuary’s Patrick Cole. Because of arthritis, he had trouble getting out of his stall and moving around. The sanctuary team changed his diet, added some medication to his regimen, had him fitted with a custom orthotics sleeve, and arranged for acupuncture treatments.

“We were really pulling out all the stops to see if we can have him enjoy his life again,” says Cole.

The pampering paid off. Now, Jack needs no encouragement each morning to leave his stall, graze contentedly on clover-studded grass, and wile away the day with Diane, well known at West Place for being a diva.

“We are calling it the Summer of Jack, and he is once again cruising the sanctuary and enjoying all of his favorite things,” said Cole.

Jack and Diane have celebrity status in these parts and will no doubt garner their fair share of attention when the sanctuary hosts its Fall Visitors Weekend the first weekend of September.

New boarders at West place

But they will have to share the spotlight, as in the span of eight recent days, the sanctuary has rescued seven animals. They include:

• A four-year-old emu named Clover, who Cole says is intimidating at first, but very sweet and social.

• Three dwarf goats — a male named Goob and females Daisy and Forsythia.

• A white Pekin duck named Peach.

• A Mallard duck with an affliction known as angel wing, a condition that prevents birds from flying.

• A turtle that will join 15 or 16 others that currently reside in the sanctuary’s pond.

Jack and Diane, like many of the animals at West Place, were rescued from an unsafe situation. They were in extremely bad health when they first arrived, said Cole, and it was difficult to tell them apart because they were both morbidly obese. In time, as they started to lose weight, it was clear that Jack has a more pronounced snout and a different body shape. And he smiles more.

“They are really emblematic of the work we do, not only rescuing animals but rehabilitating them and giving them a second chance – especially when other organizations or people give up on them,” said Cole.

“We want people to remember that once an animal is rescued, the story doesn’t end there. It is not just happily ever after, because that’s when our work begins. But people are quick to forget, and they move on to other things.”

The animals generally stay at the sanctuary permanently after being re-homed from situations that involved cruelty, abuse, and/or neglect.

“We are still giving Jack everything he needs to succeed and thrive in old age, and that’s what we do,” said Cole. “We allow these animals to grow old at our sanctuary.”