THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 27, 1995 TAG: 9507260002
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Short : 33 lines
If you have a pet pig in Norfolk, you're a glutton for punishment. At least that's the way it must seem to Virginia Hudgins, owner of Pinky Starlight.
Pinky is a Vietnamese potbellied pig that over the years city officials have found (a) illegal, (b) too fat and, now, (c) dangerous. Pinky bit a visitor who's more upset with officialdom than the pig: She says the pig was only protecting its family. But the city has ordered it out of house and home.
Of course there must be laws about animals in urban areas. Of course, pet owners should be held accountable for their treatment of their pets, and their pets' treatment of others. We've known Animal Control officers to go out of their way to reunite a pet and its owner, or to rescue pets from human-made hells.
But at last count, the local SPCAs were euthanizing thousands of dogs and cats a month, the consequence of owners who neglect to tend and/or spay or neuter their pets. And when last we looked, raccoons, which are presumed to be rabid, had the run of Norfolk neighborhoods.
Animal Control sets its priorities. But how come Pinky's one?
If you have a pet pig in Norfolk, you're a glutton for punishment. At least that's the way it must seem to Virginia Hudgins, owner of Pinky Starlight. by CNB