This Little Piggy Goes On and On and On . . .

I never thought I’d stand foursquare for the rights of a pig, but here I am. Again.

This is no ordinary pig, but a pedigreed Vietnamese house pig named Montana who is clean, quiet, nonallergenic, noncritical and has never participated in a drive-by shooting.

Regardless of all that, La Puente has spent $30,000 trying to kick the pig out of town and swears it will not abandon its efforts until the 70-pound pork roast is history.

The city has gone to court three times in the last 20 months with a cluster of attorneys arguing that Montana is a menace to law and order.

Their case hinges on a fear of precedent. Allow one pig to remain and pretty soon someone’s going to want to keep an African elephant in his back yard. A city can’t be too careful.

Montana is not without supporters. A pro-pig demonstration was held in front of La Puente’s City Hall and more than $3,000 has been donated to cover the animal’s legal expenses.

There have been carwashes, petitions, letters and God knows how many hours of verbiage regarding the pig’s right to permanent residency, and it isn’t over yet. Two more court dates have been set.

This is the biggest thing to happen in La Puente since the cow-tipping scandal of 1897.

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Montana is the family pet of Greg and Michele Walker and their three daughters, and is about as sweet-natured as a nun.

The trouble began a couple of years ago when an animal control officer discovered the pig’s presence and pointed out that it violated a city ordinance against the keeping of swine.

A pig, they said, is swine and is covered by the same section of city law that forbids the presence of pet lions, tigers, oxen, noisy roosters and poisonous reptiles. Oxen? You bet.

The Walkers appealed to have the ordinance changed. The council said that would be OK if its Planning Commission could agree on such a change. But when the planners came back with an amendment that would have allowed the pig to stay, two of them were fired.

And the fight began.

Three members of the City Council argue that the presence of a pig in town is ruining La Puente’s image, which comes as a surprise to some who didn’t know it had one in the first place.

“Our image,” pro-porker council member Sally Fallon says, “will never suffer because of a pig. Crime and drugs are the problem here. Murder is up over 50% from last year alone!”

No pig, by the way, was involved in any of the homicides.

I asked the three anti-pig council members to comment. Two didn’t return my calls and one said he was more concerned with the presidential election than with the future of a walking pork chop. Click.

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I wrote about Montana some months ago and was surprised to hear that the city had not relented in its efforts to oust the animal.

None of the Walkers’ neighbors have complained about Montana and, in fact, 200 of them have signed petitions in the pig’s favor.

They point out that even though roosters are outlawed, they’re in backyards all over town and no one complains. Why not a pig that’s as quiet as a, well, mouse?

Michele Walker wants Montana to be included in that portion of the city ordinance that covers domesticated pets, pointing out that a pig is a lot safer to have around than a pit bull.

She adds: “This all began because [Councilman] Lou Perez had a dream that a 400-pound pig was running amok and paralyzing the city. Can you imagine that?”

Well, no, I can’t, but Perez is one of those who hasn’t returned my telephone calls, so I don’t know if he dreamed that or not.

Montana doesn’t weigh 400 pounds, thank God, and in fact has lost 10 pounds in the last two years due to the stress surrounding her court battle.

But, like that battery-operated bunny, the Energizer Pig goes on and on and on . . .

The Walkers have spent upward of $10,000 in legal fees on Montana’s behalf and are relying on the kindness of donors to keep their fight going.

The next step will be a court hearing later this month to determine if the pig can remain in town pending a trial in December.

There’s talk that when it’s all over, regardless of the outcome, there’ll be a movement to recall Perez and his posse and replace them with three Vietnamese potbellied pigs. They could do worse.

Al Martinez can be reached online at al.martinez@latimes.com