ARTESIA : Pig Owners No Longer Hogtied by Pet Law

Move over, Fido.

The City Council has tentatively approved an ordinance allowing residents throughout the city to keep Vietnamese potbellied pigs as pets.

Artesia already permits all types of pigs in a few neighborhoods zoned for livestock, but the new ordinance will permit potbellied pigs in residential areas. Some cities, such as Orange, Santa Ana and Costa Mesa, allow miniature pigs, but many communities ban them.

The ordinance permits only one pig per household and requires owners to provide adequate outdoor shelter. When a resident applies for a license to keep a potbellied pig, the city must notify adjacent property owners and give them an opportunity to submit comments.

The pigs can be taken away if they create a public nuisance or prevent neighbors from “reasonably enjoying their property,” the ordinance states.

The issue first came before the council in October after animal control authorities were sent to the home of Connie Sundberg on Jersey Avenue near Artesia Boulevard to retrieve her year-old pet pig. Sundberg told authorities that she thought she lived in a livestock zone.

Southeast Area Animal Control allowed her to keep the pet while she appealed to city officials to change the law. The council passed the ordinance last week by a 4-0 vote. Councilman Timothy J. Kelemen, who lives in an agricultural zone and owns a potbellied pig, abstained.

Sundberg says her 100-pound pig, Charlotte, is affectionate and playful with her grandchildren and puppies. The animal snorts and oinks in delight when the family chases her around the back yard, she said.

The squealing swine, also known as mini-pigs or Pygmy pigs, stand up to 20 inches at the shoulder, weigh from 30 to 200 pounds and live about 15 years.

“There’s a place for pigs,” she said. “They are clean animals, and they don’t make a lot of noise.”