In a chilling incident of covert abduction, one of Austin’s innocents was taken in the dark.

Thursday, May 11, 2000

In a chilling incident of covert abduction, one of Austin’s innocents was taken in the dark.

That’s right, one of the concrete pigs, designed by Steve Jones for the Pigs in the City event, was pignapped from his perch in front of Alpha Orthodontics, 700 First Ave. SW, sometime between the close of business Wednesday evening and the opening of business this morning.

The pig had only been able to call Alpha its home for a week before the abductors came and took it away – and the folks at Alpha hadn’t even had a chance to decorate it for the contest yet.

Office manager Dynette Niebuhr discovered the pignapping when she came in at 9 a.m. today.

"We were just decorating him yesterday, but didn’t have a chance to get much done because of the weather," Niebuhr said. "When I arrived this morning, I noticed he was missing and I asked the rest of the staff about it."

Police were called and given a description of the missing pig – short, grayish and not at all lightweight.

"The policeman said this was his first pignapping," said Dr. Wayne Finnegan, who owns the Alpha practice.

While it is something of a relief to know pigsnatchings are thus far rare in Austin, Finnegan admits to being somewhat miffed.

"My first thought is that I’m upset that someone would do that, especially when it’s a community support thing like this," Finnegan said. "Then I thought well, I’ve been handed a lemon – let’s make lemonade."

He is keeping his sense of humor about the event, even if he is a little disappointed they didn’t get to implement their design for decorating the concrete oinker.

Finnegan said he had no suspects and no idea why anyone would take the pig, even if they disapproved of their planned decorations.

The staff searched the area the pig had called home, and found a "crumb" of concrete about two inches square, so while they hope their pig will be returned, they already know he won’t be coming back unscarred by the event.

If they’re lucky, maybe someone will squeal on the culprits.