Pigs who escaped on to a busy dual carriageway and brought an A-road to a standstill have been saved from being killed thanks to online donors.

The animals ran on to the A127 at Dunton near Basildon, Essex last week where they were seen darting between cars, forcing the road to close for around two hours.

There were 14 pigs that ran away and five of them were shot by police at the scene due to safety reasons. It is unknown where they escaped from.

However one pig, named Abigail, sought refuge in a local's garden and ended up at Tower Hill Stables, in Asheldham before she could be killed by police.

Martin Morgan, who set up the stables in 1993, said in a Facebook video that she is 'safe now', but 'very scared after being on the run trying to avoid rifles'. 

He told the Daily Mail her name was inspired by the A127 because A, B, G are the first, second and seventh letters in the alphabet. 

Eight others were set to be slaughtered on Tuesday but locals saved them by donating to a GoFundMe appeal which raised £6,000 for their care. 

Mr Morgan said he was only expecting to take in one pig after receiving a call from the resident that it was in her garden. 

But he agreed to take in eight more after discovering they be killed if a home wasn't found for them.

He told the Daily Mail: 'Support for the farm has dwindled since Covid so taking them in was a difficult decision. We don't actively look to take on animals unless it's a desperate situation because we're already struggling.

'But when I was asked to take them otherwise they'd get shot, that's a very difficult stress to live with.'

He said: 'I didn't sleep the night we were told about it because I did not think we could fit them in - like most sanctuaries, we are struggling.'

The sanctuary cleared a shed for the newcomers, joining around 80 horses, 50 cows, 75 goats and hundreds of other rescued animals.

He believes that Abigail is the mother of the pigs as the three girls immediately rushed to her for comfort. Typically pigs can be hostile to unfamiliar pigs they first meet.

The five boys have been separated to avoid them breeding. Mr Morgan added: 'Whoever had these pigs before has been breeding willy nilly.' 

He went on to say the pigs are all settling well: 'They're very friendly and seem quite happy.

'A couple of them are a bit scared so it'll take them a couple weeks to calm down, but they'll be fine. Pigs adapt to their surroundings pretty quickly.' 

Mr Morgan, who looks after 400 animals, said the males arrived 'underweight' and females were in 'good condition'. 

In a video shared to Facebook he called some of them 'quite thin and tiny' while others are 'a little bit feisty'. 

He said: 'we can't save every animal, we know that we can't change the world for every animal but we can change the world for every animal that we are able to rescue.

'The pigs won't know any different or how lucky they are.'

Mr Morgan added the farm spends £25,000 a month on food for the animals and donations are about helping to make ends meet.

'The key thing is monthly support because it's not just next month's food bill we need to pay, it's the one after that. Without that support we'd have to close, so we're very grateful.'