Sebastopol police and passersby chase piglet and return it to its mother

A runaway piglet was reunited with its mother Thursday afternoon after a police chase in Sebastopol, officials said.

Authorities did not elaborate on how exactly the piggy, identified as “Pickles,” ended up on the street, and when he was taken into custody, officers decided not to hold him on suspicion of resisting or evading arrest.

“Instead, we thought it would be more appropriate to simply reprimand ‘Pickles’ for running away from the police,” Sebastopol police joked in a Facebook post Thursday afternoon.

The chase was captured on video by officers’ body cameras. The police department posted some of the footage on Facebook, showing the pursuit spanned several blocks, officials said.

At around 1:40 p.m., police received several calls reporting that “pickles” were running around in and around the road in the 8000 block of Gravenstein Highway North.

When officers arrived, the piglet proved to be “very fast and strong for an animal of its size,” police said.

The footage shows officers pursuing Pickles through a parking lot and later down a residential street, where he evades arrest by at least one resident who tried to help him.

Officials and volunteers eventually herded Pickles into a side yard on Soll Court.

A local resident, identified only as Michael W., took the piglet into custody before returning it to its mother.

Reach staff writer Colin Atagi at [email protected]. Follow on Twitter @colin_atagi