Tavares won’t allow mini pet pigs in city limits
TAVARES — Mr. Pigglesworth and Karma face eviction now that city officials have said hogwash to a proposed ordinance that would have let the mini pigs live at home with their owners.
James DuMars and Robin Donnelly moved to Tavares from Mount Dora in April and in short order were cited for violating city code after a garbage collector noticed their pet pigs sauntering in the backyard. Last month, they asked for a change in city code to allow the mini pigs in city limits.
But City Council members, responding to residents’ opposition, voted unanimously this week against the change.
“When I think of a 150-pound pig, I’m thinking of a pig that weighs more than me,” Tavares resident Denise Laratta said at Wednesday’s council meeting. “That’s not warm and cuddly . ... It’s a farm animal that belongs on farm land.”
The couple will have to find a new home for Mr. Pig-
glesworth, who loves Cheerios, and his mama Karma, who enjoys watching “Kung-Fu Panda.”
“There is no way we’re going to be able to move — we moved here three months ago,” said DuMars, adding they signed a one-year lease.
DuMars, 38, said the pigs aren’t bothering anybody.
“I could definitely understand if this has been an ongoing nuisance, but it hasn’t been,” said DuMars, who adopted a pregnant Karma two years ago.
DuMars and Donnelly had their “intelligent” pigs house-trained within days and allow the pigs inside and on their couch. In the backyard, they let the pigs stay in a fenced-in area, where Mr. Pigglesworth and Karma have a shed for shelter and a bath to get clean.
Residents reached out to elected officials to let them know where they stand on the pig proposal.
“Not one person I’ve talked to was in favor of the pigs,” said Mayor Lori Pfister, adding that numerous residents called or came to her business to talk about the issue. “I happen to love farm animals … but we lived out on a farm.”
Tavares chose against going down the path of Kissimmee, which made national headlines a decade ago when a controversy surrounding a pet pig named “Miss Piggy” flared. The city voted in 2008 to allow households to have two pet pigs, joining the ranks of about 20 cities in Florida — something the American Mini Pig Association calls “the era of the pet mini pig.”
Winter Park and Leesburg prohibit livestock within city limits, and Orlando only allows farm animals on properties zoned agriculture.
Mini pigs weigh 50 to 160 pounds, whereas farm pigs can weigh much more.
When the couple first asked Tavares officials to amend city code last month, some council members were receptive to the idea.
“This is for a pet, rather than for sausage and pork chops,” said council member Kirby Smith at the time. But as the weeks passed, opposition mounted.
The proposed rule would have allowed two adult pigs in a home, no taller than 20 inches “at the shoulders” and weighing less than 150 pounds.
This week, council members expressed worries about enforcing the rule.
“Every time your neighbor is mad at you, do they have to go out there and measure your pig?” asked council member Amanda Boggus.
Council member Bob Grenier said he questioned the wisdom of changing city code to apply, potentially, to just two people.
“When you think of the community, you have to think of 16,000 people,” Grenier said.
He also fielded concerns from residents who wanted to allow other livestock and animals in the city, though he was skeptical about their “facetious” questions.
“Somebody told me they’d like to have a llama in their yard, there was a sloth, a domesticated fox,” he said. “Some of these people must have been kidding me.”