The Hunt for Pigrates
Day Three: Afternoon, Last Day

The afternoon turned up nothing. It was time we called off the search and headed back to base camp. We tried to encourage each other by talking about the successes of the previous day. Though discussing yesterday’s near sighting and hoof print tracks lifted our spirits, we were still disappointed in the thought of packing up base camp and returning home, empty-handed.

It was animal behaviorist Cole Saphone who spied the creature first. A large, orange animal was rooting through the sand, some 2000 yards up the coast.



Photographer Becky Bernard immediately pulled out her camera. However, she was only able to capture this one photo before the shy creature caught wind of us and leaped into the waves. Though we can’t be positive, the entire team feels this creature is the elusive salt water, swimming pig called the pigrate.

Though we are out of time and money for this trip, our team is filled with excitement as we head back to camp. Armed with new evidence of the existence of the pigrate, we feel certain we will receive continued funding from the university to conduct future explorations.