“What’s not to love?”
Holly Hacker, Owner of Porkus Maximus
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PORKUS MAXIMUS Photo by Kevin Mingora, The Morning Call |
When is a pig not livestock? The answer: when it’s a pet pig. At least, that’s what Holly Hacker is arguing. Ms. Hacker lives in Whitehall, Pennsylvania (population 24,896) and owns a pink-and-black spotted Vietnamese potbellied pig. The town says the pig must go; Ms. Hacker says not so fast.
The potbellied pig, Porkus Maximus, lives in Ms. Hacker’s home, lounges in her fenced front yard, plays with the neighborhood kids and canines, and likes to go for a walk on a leash. That last part—going for a walk—is what got Ms. Hacker and Porkus in hot water. On one of their daily strolls, they caught the eye of the town’s zoning officer, and not in a good way. Shortly after, Ms. Hacker got a notice in the mail saying Porkus must go.
Whitehall Zoning regulations say that “livestock” are not allowed. No problem, says Ms. Hacker: Porkus is not livestock; he’s a pet. The North American Potbellied Pig Association agrees, as do several hundred supporters who’ve signed pro-Porkus petitions and a preschool class that donned plastic pig snouts and held a pig rally.
Ms. Hacker has appealed the notice. So now the the fate of Porkus the pig is in the hands of the Whitehall Zoning Hearing Board. It’s up to them to say pig in, or pig out.
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