Three pigs are expected to make a full recovery after they were mauled by a pair of pit bulls Tuesday at Venetucci Farms, according to an update on the farm’s Facebook page.

Managers of Venetucci Farms, the beloved place where generations of Pikes Peak area children have picked pumpkins, have not yet explained how the pit bulls entered the farm.

The female pigs were grazing in the open late in the afternoon when the attack occurred.

“They’re tore up pretty good,” said farm manager Patrick Hamilton. “They’ve got some intense injuries to their heads and snouts.”

The pigs are typically kept in the pasture, where they can roam and eat alfalfa, he said.

Hamilton and another employee captured one of the pit bulls, which had no identification.

The farm, on U.S. Highway 85 near South Academy Drive, was founded by the Venetucci family in 1936, and was put into conservancy and given to the Pikes Peak Community Foundation in 2006.

While it produces chemical-free produce, the farm is best known as an educational facility where city kids can go to pick pumpkins, pet the animals and learn about farm life.

It is not the first time the farm’s pigs have been victimized. Last year, two were tied up and beaten with poles.

The Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region is investigating Tuesday’s mauling.

An Army carry team lifts a transfer case containing the remains Army Master Sgt. Charles L. Price III as a transfer case containing the remains of Navy Hospitalman Riley Gallinger-Long sits on a loader Saturday, Aug. 13, 2011 at Dover Air Force Base, Del. According to the Department of Defense, Price, of Milam, Texas died while supporting Operation Enduring Freedom and Gallinger-Long, 19, of Cornelius, Ore., died Aug. 11, 2011 while conducting a dismounted patrol in the Marjah district, Helmand province, Afghanistan. Photo by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Steve Ruark