Look who's happy now!

These are just two of the starved and neglected animals rescued from the Happy Pig Company at Sluice Farm, off Herbrand Walk, near Bexhill.

Afterwards, owner Keith Barnett, 60, from The Square, Pevensey, pleaded guilty to seven counts of animal cruelty.

That was then, but how the picture has changed. After months of TLC, food and space on a local farm, the pigs are restored to health and looking after their own more than happy piglets.

The farmer, who wished not to be named, said: “It took a few weeks... when we took them in last spring we had an inspection after six weeks and the inspector said they were like completely different pigs, and had put on weight.

“But it has taken this long to get them up to scratch so we could breed them.

“I am delighted with how they are.

“Lots of people know I have got the pigs and there has been a lot of interest in the community about them.

“Now they are free range, and they run about with the chickens.

“They have got bedding, they have got food and they have got water.

“They lay down and have their tummies tickled.

“But I just can’t believe people could let animals get that bad.”