CAMARILLO : Police Search for Pig-Naper

Unlike most swine, Macon the potbellied pig loves people so much that he doesn’t squeal when handled. But his good nature may have done him in, pet-store owner Kevin Madden said Friday.

Someone purloined the 22-day-old porker right from under the noses of Madden and about a dozen customers milling around his Pet Headquarters in Camarillo on Thursday night, Madden said.

“I was showing some people how friendly he was, how he would lay on his back and you could scratch his belly,” Madden said. “It happened really fast, and it was gone.”

The crowd around Macon’s playpen “ooohhed and aaahhed” at his friendly disposition, then dispersed, Madden said. Moments later, a witness saw a young woman running out of the store toward the parking lot with the pig.

By the time store employees gave chase, the woman was nowhere to be found, Madden said. Macon is valued at $500, but that’s not the only reason Madden feels troubled by the theft.

“What really bothers me is that he’s on a special diet,” Madden said. “And what if it gets sick? Somebody who steals an animal isn’t going to take care of it.”

Without a specially formulated diet of potbellied pig pellets to stunt his growth, Macon stands the chance of developing a weight problem unbecoming for a house pet, Madden said.

Instead of a svelte 25 to 30 pounds, potbellied pigs fed the wrong food can tip the scales at 70 by adulthood, Madden said.

For now, Macon weighs about four pounds. He’s pink with small black spots on his nose, by his ear and on his hindquarters.

Police are looking for a woman age 17 to 20, about 5-foot-7 and 120 pounds with brown hair in a ponytail, said Sgt. Keith Lazz. She was wearing a white shirt, cut-off blue jeans and white tennis shoes, he said, adding that if caught, the woman could face charges of grand theft.