Editing Robert Pickton (section)

== Early Life ==
Robert Pickton was born in 1949, the middle child of Leonard and Louise Pickton. He was raised on a large farm in Port Coquitlam, now a suburb of Vancouver, where he worked long hours taking care of the animals.

He was known as a quiet, socially awkward boy. Even into adulthood he had few friends, although he was extremely close to his mother and younger brother David. He also formed strong attachments to several of the animals under his care ; this included a beloved calf he had raised in childhood who he was horrified to learn his parents had slaughtered, a horse named Goldie who he had mounted in his trailer upon its death, and a 600 pound pet boar whom he allowed to freely roam the property along with his dogs.

He preformed poorly in school, and was often socially excluded due to his strange behaviors and notoriously poor hygiene. It was quietly believed by some family members that he suffered from brain damage, caused by being born with the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck, but this was never tested. After spending several years in special education classes, he eventually dropped out of high school at the age of 15. He then began working as a meat cutter for almost seven years before returning to the farm following the deaths of his parents in the early 1970s.

Robert began raising pigs and expanding the barns on the property while working for B.C. Hydro, his brother David preforming most of the other day-to-day farming operations, until his piggery burned down in 1978. Following this incident, the brothers scaled back farming operations and worked a variety of odd jobs instead. By the 1990s, Vancouver was rapidly expanding and their land became worth millions of dollars, so they began to sell large portions of it for real estate development. They kept ten acres of the land for themselves.

In 1996, the brothers created a rhegistered non-profit organization called the ''Piggy Palace Good Times Society. ''Their goal was to "organize, co-ordinate, manage and operate special events, functions, dances, shows and exhibitions on behalf of service organizations, sports organizations and other worthy groups," which generally meant throwing large raves in a converted slaughterhouse on their property. These events, which could attract more two thousand people, featured a large number of gang members and prostitutes. Although the society was disbanded in 1998, following zoning violations and inability to provide financial statements, this is where Pickton likely selected several of his victims.