These little piggies are legal
Score one for the pigs. After a three-year tryout, Palm Beach County is making permanent a change that allowed pot-bellied pigs to be kept in suburban and urban neighborhoods.
Controversy erupted in 2012 over a pig named Yoda. A zoning restriction barred Yoda from being kept in his home west of Delray Beach.
County commissioners agreed to ease zoning rules temporarily, and it appears to have been a success, said Jon MacGillis, zoning director for Palm Beach County.
The county only received one pot-bellied pig complaint during the three-year test, and it was quickly resolved, MacGillis said.
Unless the County Commission decides to intervene, pot-bellied pigs will continue to be allowed in Palm Beach County, MacGillis wrote in a memo. He says he hasn’t heard any objections so far from the commission, which voted 6-1 three years ago to reclassify pot-bellied pigs.
In 2012, when Yoda propelled the issue to the forefront of the county commission’s agenda, county rules classified pot-bellied pigs as “livestock,” and only allowed them to be kept in rural areas. Yoda’s owner Jennifer San Filippo took to social media to advocate for those rules to be changed.
But opponents questioned whether pigs and humans could coexist in tight quarters. They worried pigs would create odor problems, noise and spread disease, along with paving the way for other animals, such as goats and chickens, to be introduced into urban areas.
But so far, it doesn’t appear the pigs have caused any issues, MacGillis said.
Cities are free to adopt their own pot-bellied pig rules. Homeowner associations still can banish potbellied pigs.
Pot-bellied pigs have run afoul of homeowner association rules.
A therapy pig named Wilbur sparked a nearly yearlong battle between his owner and a homeowner association near Wellington. The association backed down and allowed Wilbur to stay.
The county limits potbellied pigs to single-family, detached homes and only two can be kept per household. Owners must register their pets.
Pot-bellied pigs can be successfully kept in densely populated areas, said Pam Munici, president of the North American Potbellied Pig Association.
Munici, a resident
of
Gilbert, Ariz., owns pigs.
“They are highly trainable because of the intelligence they have,” she said. “They learn at a fast rate — faster than a dog.”
The animals typically weigh between 75 and 150 pounds and can live 20 years, Munici said. Pot-bellied pigs are considerably smaller than standard farm pigs, which can weigh as much as 300 pounds.
Even though the pigs are allowed, owners need to spay and neuter their pets and realize the pigs can grow to a large size, said JoJo Milano, a pot-bellied pig owner who lives in a rural area west of Palm Beach Gardens.
“I like that the ordinance is allowing people the opportunity to have these animals, but I am also a little concerned we are going to see a lot more dumpings out here,” Milano said.
three
sswisher@tribpub.com, 561-243-6634 or @SkylerSwisher
potbellied