They named him Keller, after Helen Keller, because he, too, was blind.

Though it was never clear who adopted whom, the black-and-white pig who wandered in from the forest found safety and comfort at the Kamilonui Place animal shelter run by Gina Lay and Gary Weller.

Lay said Keller knew every corner of the sprawling property, even if he occasionally did walk into a wall or a tree. He even had a friend, a part-sharpei dog named Manini, with whom he'd share long naps.

"He'd only known human kindness," Lay said, "so he wasn't prepared for what happened to him."

According to witnesses, Keller was lazing on the grassy front lawn of the sanctuary yesterday when a group of hunters pulled up and set their dogs on him.

The dogs mauled the 35-pound pig until one of the hunters finally stabbed him to death.

Neighbors called police, who arrested the man who stabbed Keller. According to one witness, who asked not to be identified, an off-duty police officer from the area arrived first and drew his gun while detaining the hunters.

Lay said the man admitted killing Keller and later helped Lay bury the pig in a mulch heap on the property.

According to Lay, the men had been given permission by another neighbor to hunt pigs on a separate property far down the isolated road.

Packs of hunting dogs have killed several pets in recent years on O'ahu, and last year Joseph Calarruda of Makaha was sentenced to five years in prison for killing Porky, a pet pig owned by Mililani resident Aaron O'Brien. Porky was stabbed to death despite witnesses' pleas, and at sentencing, Circuit Judge Richard Pollack called Calarruda's action "vicious and callous."

While hunting is prohibited in the private valley in Hawai'i Kai, Lay said she frequently hears gunfire in the surrounding forest and that several dead or wounded feral pigs have been found nearby.

Lay said she recently found a pig that had been trapped in a snare that had been left, illegally, in some nearby brush. The pig had chewed off its own leg trying to get free.

Yesterday was not the first time the sanctuary has lost a pet to hunters.

One Sunday afternoon a couple of years ago, a pack of hunting dogs chased another pet pig under Weller's house. Weller went outside to intervene, but not before a hunter ducked under the house, killed the pig with a knife and ran away.

Weller said the Hawai'i Kai Neighborhood Board, of which he is a member, has been looking into repeated complaints of hunting dogs attacking pets on hiking trails in the area.

Weller said he did not bring up the earlier killing in deference to other board members. The next the time board meets, however, Weller said "all bets will be off."

"I've never been so mad," Weller said. "Keller was our pet, and this is very emotional for us. If this were Texas, (the hunters) would be dead in the front yard. I don't have much in Hawai'i. This property is all I've got. For someone to come on private property with their dogs and kill our pet ... "

The sanctuary caters to abandoned, abused, disabled and terminally ill animals of all sorts. In addition to the 300 or so animals that have a permanent home at the facility, several feral pigs also visit the site to feed on the scraps neighbors often leave for them on the side of the road.

As Lay spoke yesterday, a half-dozen feral pigs and several cats strolled along the periphery of the property.

"They're very tame, not aggressive at all," Lay said of the pigs. "People come around all the time to see them, and they're amazed at how friendly they are."

Several neighbors stopped by the sanctuary to console Lay and her volunteer workers. Yet perhaps no one was more upset than Keller's nap buddy, Manini.

Two days ago, Manini gave birth to a litter of puppies. Yesterday, as the hunters' dogs pounced on Keller, Manini charged out of the house and attacked the dogs in a vain attempt to defend her friend. She was retrieved by shelter volunteers, "messed up" but otherwise unharmed.

"We try to be a sanctuary for these animals," Lay said. "But it's hard to be a sanctuary when animals are slaughtered right on our front lawn."