Family with prohibited pet pig appeals to Vernon council
VERNON – This little piggy wants to stay home, but a little known Vernon bylaw stands in the way.
In the hope of keeping their pet pig Felix, a local family is asking Vernon council for a variance to the Animal Regulation and Animal Pound Bylaw, which states swine cannot be kept within the city, unless on designated farmland. The bylaw also says non-companion animals — anything other than cats, dogs, rabbits, guinea pigs, rodents and reptiles — are prohibited.
Even Vernon Mayor Akbal Mund agrees the request was an unusual one. He says the trouble is if council allows one animal, it will set a precedent for others.
“So next week someone comes to us and says they want to keep a lion in their backyard, what do you say?” he says.
The city changed the bylaw some time ago to allow backyard chickens, but Mund isn’t sure the same would be done for pigs. It's something council will discuss at an upcoming meeting.
In a letter to council, owner Brenda Quint implored council to let her keep Felix, the family’s pet pig.
“Felix is a companion, best friend and most importantly, a member of our family,” she said.
Over 70 people signed a petition saying Felix is a companion, not a farm animal, and should be allowed to stay. One can assume other pigs are being kept as pets within the city, but this case wound up before council due to a complaint. Vernon bylaw compliance manager Clint Kanester confirms the city received a complaint, and upon investigation determined there was a pig on the residential property, in contravention with the animal regulation bylaw.
To contact the reporter for this story, email Charlotte Helston at chelston@infonews.ca or call 250-309-5230. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
— This story was edited at 2:10 p.m. June 24, 2015 to say the Vernon bylaw department received a complaint about the pig and to remove a sentence regarding a neighbour.
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10 responses
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YES! THANK YOU! Brenda, Felix’s Mom has already shared the happy news. Now it’s my turn.MANY, MANY sincere, heartfelt THANKS, hugs, happy little piggy Felix grunts to you all! It is official, Felix and his family get to stay together! We can not thank you all enough! We were pleasantly overwhelmed with all the support we have received. It was truly wonderful to see so much of the community come together, to support Felix and his family not being torn apart. Our hearts are over flowing with the joy of Felix being able to stay, and with gratitude for all the support everyone has given. THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU, ALL! —feeling Overjoyed, Amazing, Grateful, Thankful, Blessed :D
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For those of you that, like me, hope these people get to keep their pet, there is a Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/helpsavefelix.
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That is absolutelyrubbish , a dogcan and will kill a pig ,, there are pigs all overthe world missing earsthanksto dogs.Andin allmy yearsof rescuing I have never ever heard of a dog getting hurtby a pig.And your dogshould ofbeen leashed ifhe/she is a knownjumper.You can try and lay blame elsewhere butyour dog your responsibility.The Bylawsprohibiting swinewere set inplace back whenlittle townsweregrowingand requirements were set into place such as and size,road distance, number of sows producing littersfor example.That was aboutlarge domestic swine productionand the bylawshouldn’tbeused as a stretch regardinga mini pig.City’s and Towns all overCanada and the USAare revisiting there bylaws regardingthese little pigsnow.I am infavorofgrandfathering this issueasdone in the USAandget back tobetter issues.
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Maybe the owner should have checked bylaws before getting a pig? Where does it end if they allow the pig and go against a bylaw what other bylaws will then be challenged? The council and mayor should not even be bothered with this crap…..Get on with making Vernon better and not dealing with people that should no better.
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As a Mini pig owner myself I feel this is very unfair. The farm hog I can see as not living in city limits, but a mini pig? They are much cleaner then dogs and cats and Do not bark all night. I don’t hear of reports of “pigs at large”. Where its a daily thing to hear of dogs and cats at large. If someones dog was to jump MY fence and come into MY yard where I have my pig I would not be impressed. My yard is for my pets and invited pets. Not ones running at large. Pigs are incredibly clean animals and do not stink even when wet! They are the 4th smartest animal. Making them smarter then cats and dogs. I bet 12 people can’t tell me that they had someones stray pet mini pig come into their yard and relive themselves or destroy garbage so far this year. But I can bet that at least 50 people tell me that a stray dog or cat was in their yard reliving themselves or getting into garbage. Also there are many more cases of a dog attacking pet pigs then the other way around. Just recently in the USA a pet pig was attacked by a dog and had its ears ripped off. I have 2 large dogs that live with my pig in the house, but in the 3 years I have had my pig they are never left unattended together. I would never trust a dog alone with my pig, even the best mannered dog. A dog can do far more damage to a mini pig then a pig can to a dog.A dog is the predator and the pig is the prey not the other way around. We are always encouraging the public to educate themselves on dogs. How about we start educating the public on Pet pigs. An incredibly smart, sensitive, kind animal. There is lots of information out there for people to educate themselves.
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What a waste of time this is….let her keep the pig.This is ridiculous…unbelievable the things people fight over these days.I’d be upset that the dog jumped over the fence to get into my yard…the dog was not under control but the pig was!Lets say it was chickens in the yard…what then?The dog is ok to trespass?We all can see what the problem is here…
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Your dogs were always aggressive and frightening every time we walked our small dog by the house when they were there.Felix is always attended and leashed when out in the yard and is no threat to anyone.
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So Felix gets attacked and told to move out of town….that is not being bullied at all…yet I now someone in town with meat rabbit raising and layer hens…in town… Why not make it a weight retriction… Under 100lb livestock
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As the owner of the dog who jumped the fence I am appalled that an artical can be posted with out getting the full story. Yes, the dog jumped the fence but no it did not attack the pig. If you know anything about pigs you know that a pig can do more damage to a dog then the other way around. Based my my dogs breed he is being used to gain sympathy and support for this family’s cause. I am the owner of the dog but not the neighbour. We were visiting with our dog but do not live there. There was NO complaint filed by the homeowner. However, this is a bylaw and perhaps they should have done some research before bringing pig into the city.
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