Arkansas city officials to draft ordinance banning pigs

EUREKA SPRINGS, Ark. – City officials in northwestern Arkansas are considering banning pet pigs after receiving complaints about the smell from a home where two potbellied pigs live.

The Eureka Springs City Council recently voted in favour of drafting an ordinance to ban pigs, including potbellied and miniature pigs that are kept as pets, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported.

The city’s current code says it’s “unlawful to keep any hogs, horses, mules, cattle, goats or sheep in the city.”

Alderwoman Mickey Schneider proposed replacing “hogs” with “swine” in the city code language in order to include animals that aren’t raised for slaughter.

“While hogs and pigs are different, swine encompasses all of them,” she said.

Schneider said she proposed the wording modification Monday following complaints about the smell coming from a home that keeps two pet pigs in the yard.

The ordinance would need to pass three readings by the City Council, Schneider said. She estimated that the process will take three weeks.

Alderman Tom Buford complained about the residence keeping the stinky pigs in June, before he was elected to the City Council.

“You could smell the pigs,” he said. “I just thought having pigs in a tourist town with (bed-and-breakfasts) and all was not something you’d want.”

Alderwoman Melissa Greene told the council earlier this summer that the pigs’ waste makes it “unbearable for neighbours to be in their backyard.”

Jim Evans, the city’s animal control officer, said he believed the couple that owned the pet pigs had moved out of town.

“I’m almost 100 per cent sure they’re already gone, but we don’t want any more problems,” he said.

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Information from: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, http://www.arkansasonline.com