THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 9, 1994 TAG: 9411090317
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: By KAREN E. QUINONES MILLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines
There is no doubt about it, Pinkie is fat.
She's so fat that her belly scrapes the ground when she walks.
She's so fat that rolls of fat from her forehead have sunk down into her eyelids so she can't see.
Yep, Pinkie Starlight is really fat. In fact, she's a real pig.
Animal control officers removed Pinkie, a Vietnamese potbellied pig, from her home in the 8100 block of Simons Drive Tuesday morning. They charged her owner, Virginia Hudgins, 39, with neglect.
Pinkie was vastly in need of veterinary care, they say.
``Usually Vietnamese potbellied pigs run between 65 and 100 pounds,'' said Senior Humane Officer Mark Kumpf. ``This pig weighed about 200 pounds. It's .
``Having a permit doesn't give you permission to abuse or neglect an animal,'' Kumpf said of Hudgins, who had a permit for the pig
It's neglect when a person refuses to heed a veterinarian's warnings that an animal's weight is dangerous to its health, Kumpf said.
Animal Control Officer Christina Roeske said she had been alerted by police officers who have made calls to the Hudgins residence on other matters, and she was preparing a search warrant.
``But when I heard that police officers were going back to the house today on a domestic dispute I decided to tag along to see what I could find out,'' Roeske said.
What she found was a pinkish-white pig lying on a small mat near a window in the rear bedroom. It was Roeske's introduction to Pinkie Starlight.
``I've never seen a Vietnamese potbellied pig that big,'' Roeske said. ``She was just . . . huge. I had heard that she was pretty big, but when you see a pig of that size it still gets your attention.''
Pinkie Starlight stood - when she did stand - about 18 inches at the shoulder.
Pinkie didn't bother moving when the officers came into the room, said Roeske. She pretty much ignored them.
``We tried to lift her eyelids to see if there was any eye matter underneath, but the fat had hardened so much we couldn't get them open,'' Roeske said.
Pinkie Starlight also had 2-inch toenails, said Roeske.
The owner of the house, Hudgins' mother, had no problem with Pinkie being taken away by animal control officers. She told Roeske that she was sick and tired of having a pig living in her house and wanted it out.
But how do you remove a 200-pound pig?
``We waved a piece of bread in front of her face, and she kind of struggled to her feet. Then we made a trail of bread crumbs down the hall and the pig just followed it,'' Roeske said.
Pinkie was taken to Midway Veterinary Hospital in Chesapeake, where she was examined by Dr. M. W. Myers, who had seen Pinkie as a patient earlier this year.
``I told her owner then that she needed to put Pinkie on a diet,'' Myers said. ``But I also know that pigs don't like to have their food cut down, especially when they've been overfed in the past, and they can be pretty vocal about their dislikes.''
Vietnamese potbellied pigs are notorious eaters, according to Myers, because in their homeland their food is mostly roughage - high-fiber, low-calorie.
``Here in the United States, the most overfed (human) population in the world, they get high-energy, high-quality food,'' Myers said. ``But their system keeps them telling them to eat, eat, eat. They've really got to be watched.''
Animal control officers said Myers will be boarding Pinkie at a farm in Chesapeake.
Myers has already cut Pinkie's nails. The next order of business: Putting the pig on a diet. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
STEVE EARLEY/Staff
Pinkie Starlight, said animal control officers, is obese, corpulent,
adipose, weight-challenged, and a bit too porcine for a pig. They
rescued her from her home and charged her owner with neglect.
KEYWORDS: PINKY STARLIGHT POTBELLIED PIG by CNB