Pigs who saved their bacon are immortalised as soft toys

Two pigs which caused a national sensation by spending a week on the run from the slaughterhouse are to be immortalised as soft toys.

The pair – nicknamed the Tamworth Two – made their great escape from a Wiltshire abattoir last month and evaded the hamfisted attempts of locals, police, journalists and photographers to catch them.

Toy manufacturer Gosh! International, a subsidiary of PMS International, has the licence for the toy versions of the pigs which will be called Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Pig and will go on sale at the end of this month. Butch will retail at 9.99 while the smaller Sundance will be on sale at 7.99. Both were developed and put into production within three weeks of the story breaking.

A spokesman for Gosh! International says: “We wanted to release them now to make the most of the publicity.

“The whole story really captured the public’s imagination and we’re hoping that these toys will appeal to both adults and children.

The ginger boars, which escaped from the slaughterhouse by wriggling through a hole under a fence and swimming across a river, were eventually captured, but no longer face the chop. They have been given a new home in an animal sanctuary.

The toy versions were launched last weekend at the British International Toy & Hobby Fair 1998.