Grammy-winning songwriting legend Diane Warren adopts ‘Wilbur’ the rogue WeHo pig
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A piglet that captured Los Angelenos’ hearts and minds after its attempts to elude multiple pursuers in West Hollywood last weekend went viral has been adopted by a foundation headed by Grammy-award-winning songwriter Diane Warren.
Named Wilbur by the hive mind of social media, the animal blew up online after resident Jamaal Harrison posted a video to TikTok on Saturday showing his futile attempts to catch it on an e-bike.
Though he couldn’t catch it, the fame he brought upon the animal almost certainly changed its life — from the mean streets and hard asphalt of West Hollywood to a lush sanctuary with lots of friends and nary a concern for his next meal.
In the space of a year, Diane Warren received Sweden’s Polar Prize, her 14th Academy Award nomination and finally got her first Oscar, an honorary award.
The piglet was caught by someone else and taken to the West Los Angeles Animal Shelter, which put the animal up for adoption five days later because no owner had come forward. Wilbur is about 11 weeks old and weighs 17 pounds, the animal shelter said.
On Thursday, the animal shelter held a silent auction among the four contenders who had come forward wanting to adopt him. One of them was Marcia Zwilling, representing the Diane Warren Foundation, a charity that supports animals.
Zwilling said in an interview that Warren, who authored classics including Cher’s “If I Could Turn Back Time” and Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing,” wanted to adopt the pig for her seven-acre animal sanctuary in Malibu.
“Go get him, go get him,” Warren told Zwilling after seeing the videos of Wilbur.
Zwilling got to the shelter around 7:40 a.m. Thursday and put down the winning bid, then took the pig to the sanctuary, where he was fed a salad and put in a 24-foot-by-24-foot enclosure next to another pig the sanctuary adopted named “Wiener.”
We caught up with the songwriters of all five of this year’s nominees for tales of music deeply rooted in character and story.
Wilbur’s life in his new home will be “heaven,” Zwilling said, including freedom to roam the ranch and cavort with the other animals when he grows up a little and a daily diet of “gourmet” salads of lettuce, cucumbers, blueberries and watermelon.
Warren was reportedly thrilled by the adoption, Zwilling said, calling it “a ‘pig’ deal.”
Harrison, who first made Wilbur famous, said he was happy for the pig.
“Shelters can be depressing, and pigs are smart,” Harrison said in a text message. “As long as he’s good now, all is great.”
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