| Wednesday, October 14, 1998
NORTH: ANAHEIM
Pet Pigs Can Feel Right at Home Now
By DEBRA CA
Pig owners went hog wild after the City Council voted 3 to 2
Tuesday to allow potbellied pigs as pets.
Among those celebrating was Cher Houston, who now gets to keep
her pet pig, Mu Shu, at her Anaheim home. "Shes part of the family,"
Houston said of the pig, who has been her companion for nearly seven years.
Houston and other proponents from the pig rescue and placement
group Pigs Without Partners had lobbied city officials to recognize
potbellied pigs as pets rather than farm animals.
Councilman Bob Zemel opposed changing the rules, which had
banned farm animals from properties smaller than 1 acre.
"This is going to create more regulations onto existing laws
that the taxpayers simply cant afford," he said. "Our resources are better
spent fighting crime than swine."
But Councilman Tom Tait said he thinks the ordinance is a good
compromise because "it allows good owners to keep their pigs. If a person
violates [the rules], theyll lose that privilege."
The council had twice postponed action on whether to adopt the
new law, which allows pigs on properties smaller than 1 acre if the animals
are spayed or neutered and are vaccinated against various communicable
diseases.
The council next week will consider further regulations that
would require pig owners to pay a fee to cover the cost of code-enforcement
inspections and require a concrete surface for pig areas.
Houston and Mu Shu were thrust into the spotlight in July after
a neighbor complained to city code enforcement officials about Mu Shus
odor. Houston was ordered to get rid of the pig.
Earlier Tuesday, Houston and Mu Shu--wearing faux pearls around
her thick, bristly neck--had joined other pig owners and pets at a rally
across from City Hall to draw attention to their plight if the animals were
banished.
"Theyd be instantly homeless," said Kelley Moon of Pigs Without
Partners, who brought her pet, Penelope. Because pigs are intelligent and
sociable by nature, removing them from their homes would be traumatic, she
said.
Moon, who lives in Azusa, said there are an estimated 100 to 200
potbellied pigs living in Anaheim, but owners are keeping them in hiding for
fear of having them taken away.
"Were representing all the voices of pet owners in Anaheim who
are afraid to come forward," she said.
Copyright 1998 Los Angeles Times. All Rights Reserved
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