Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, October 2, 1995 TAG: 9510020057
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: S.D. HARRINGTON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The Roanoke Valley's recent controversy over whether Vietnamese potbellied pigs belong in the back yard or the barnyard has some pet owners nervous.
"Who would we give him to?'' asked the owner of Hiney, who fears that her potbellied pig could be banished from Roanoke city limits, as two other pigs were recently. "He's not a farm animal, so he can't live on a farm." She said her only option would be to put the pig to sleep.
Hiney's owner, who asked to remain anonymous so Hiney's whereabouts won't be widely known, said she knows of at least four other pigs in the city - and some of their owners also are worried.
The stink over pigs as pets has arrived in the Roanoke Valley later than in most localities. The potbellied-pig fad that hit the United States in the late 1980s had cities all over the country reviewing their animal-control laws.
At least 125 cities have amended their zoning ordinances to allow the pigs as pets, according to the Potbellied Pig Registry Service Inc. Among them are New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Dallas.
A recent ruling by Roanoke Judge Julian Raney left one family in Roanoke pigless. Raney interpreted the city code, which prohibits swine, to include potbellied pigs. Therefore, he ordered Bill and Susan Thompson to get their two pigs out of the Wasena neighborhood.
The case went before Raney after neighbors had complained of a foul odor that they said was a result of the pigs, Dinner and Jessabelle, doing their business in the Thompsons' front yard.
Salem also prohibits swine, although its code never has been contested by pig owners.
Of all valley governments, Roanoke County has been the most pig-friendly.
Although the county's animal control law prohibits livestock in residentially zoned areas, Planning Director Terry Harrington was convinced in 1990 that one family's pig was "domesticated" and was not in violation.
Also, attempts by Vinton's Town Council last summer failed to expel a trio of potbellied pigs when a Roanoke County judge determined that the town code's definition of livestock was unclear. Animal control officers had filed charges after neighbors complained when Wilbur, one of Gerald and Emma Saunders' three pigs, escaped from the back yard and snooped around a nearby cherry tree.
"Certainly, a lot of areas have succumbed to local pressure," said Jenny Blaney, co-owner of the registry service and operator of its East Coast office in Goldsboro, Md.
For example, the City Council in Akron, Ohio, took potbellied pigs off the list of illegal house pets in 1992 after breeders and owners testified that more than 160 potbellied pigs were living illegally in the city.
In Burbank, Calif., registered porkers are allowed as long as they aren't too porky: A weight limit of 100 pounds was set in 1991.
Full-grown potbellied pigs can weigh 50 to 150 pounds. Typically, females are smaller than males.
Many localities, however, will not budge on the issue. To them, a pig is a pig.
The potbellied pig "is a swine, and old ordinances and laws prohibit swine," Blaney said. "Nobody ever saw that a pig would become a household pet."
Blaney thinks pigs in many areas are given a bad rap, but they are no more troublesome than dogs or cats.
"It is a misunderstood animal," she said. "It has suffered from unscrupulous breeders.
"Dogs run loose, they bark all night, they poop in people's yards. ... By and large, dogs create more problems than potbellied pigs do," Blaney said.
Although the pigs are edible, and occasionally were eaten in ancient China, Blaney said no one has ever raised the breed for food here. Or, at least, "if they do, they sure don't publicize it," she said.
In fact, when potbellied pigs were planned as possible meals in the 1991 Biosphere II project in Arizona, pig owners squealed. The project's directors changed the menu.
In an attempt to educate the public about potbellied pigs, the registry publishes a nationwide journal, provides information packets, and holds seminars on responsible ownership.
Almost 24,000 potbellied pigs are registered with the service, said Gayle Spears, who operates the registry's headquarters in California.
When Spears typed Roanoke into the registry's database, the names of eight pigs appeared. And Hiney isn't even one of them, since his owner said he's not registered.
There are two smaller registries in the United States; but even so, a large number of potbellied pigs remain unregistered, Blaney said. She estimated that there are probably 200,000 pigs in this country that are either purebred or part potbelly.
Even with the recent ruling in the city, Roanoke Valley animal control officers say they aren't looking to be big, bad wolves.
Generally, said Roanoke animal control supervisor Mike Quesenberry, the six animal control officers in the city work off complaints.
"The volume of complaints leaves little time for patrol," he said.
Both disputes over the pigs this year were in response to neighbors' complaints.
As with any other pet, the key to being a responsible potbellied pig owner is good hygiene, said Charlie Harvey, owner of Pet City in Roanoke. Along with a variety of other exotic pets, Harvey kept Petunia for three years at his Williamson Road pet store before finding her a home in Covington.
"Hey, these animals are very intelligent," Harvey said. "But the key is for the individual owners to take proper care of them."
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