Porker Prosecution Is Pigheaded, Officials Say

When Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti’s campaign advertisements highlighted the thousands of cases his office prosecutes each year, there was no mention of the one against a South Pasadena woman for having a potbellied pig named Tulip out for a walk without a leash.

Prosecutors will try today to prove to a Pasadena Municipal Court judge that there is enough evidence to put Kalyn Baker on trial for unlawfully allowing her 80-pound porker to “run at large” in South Pasadena twice last year in violation of a local law. But even as they prepare for court, prosecutors acknowledge the case is extreme.

“This got out of hand,” said Larry Trapp, head of the district attorney’s Pasadena office, who notes that such minor traffic ticket-style offenses rarely warrant such a hearing.

Others say it’s more than just unusual.

“This is a complete waste of time and money,” said South Pasadena City Manager Ken Farfsing, who wants the case dismissed. “It’s pigheaded.

“The city is satisfied that neither Ms. Baker nor Tulip are menaces to society,” he wrote in letter to Baker’s attorney. “One could never guess I’d be a character witness for a pig--but Tulip is very well behaved.”

Baker, who pleaded not guilty to the charges last month, agrees and says she is being unfairly prosecuted. “There’s no law in South Pasadena that says you have to leash a pig,” Baker said. “The law talks about dogs.”

The prosecution is being pursued at the request of local control animal officials concerned about the pig’s welfare. Pasadena Humane Society officers reported seeing the unleashed Tulip with Baker last July and September.

Baker calls their concern nonsense. Unlike dogs, her pig does not wander, she says.

South Pasadena Police Chief Thomas Mahoney had advised Baker that Tulip need not be leashed, but that Baker should carry one nonetheless and she would not be cited until there was a specific complaint. But prosecutors say they were not aware of the chief’s live-and-let-walk approach at the time of filing charges. And the Pasadena Humane Society says its makes no difference.