City May Ease Law Against Pet Pigs

This little pig, Mu Shu, gets to stay at her Anaheim home--at least while officials look into changing the city’s code to allow potbellied porkers as pets.

Mu Shu’s owner, Cher Houston, asked the City Council this week to consider changing the city ordinance the prohibits farm animals--including potbellied pigs--from being kept as pets.

The city’s code enforcement office received an odor complaint in June from one of Houston’s neighbor’s about the pig. Officials ordered Houston to remove Mu Shu from her home, prompting a protest at City Hall last week by more than a dozen pig owners.

Houston said Mu Shu, who she described as spoiled, lovable and very clean, is a pet that has given her years of companionship and affection. She told the council that separation from her pet would devastate both of them emotionally.

The council agreed to ask city staff members to research ordinances in other cities that allow and regulate potbellied pigs. The council, putting enforcement against Mu Shu on hold, said it would consider a change to the ordinance at a future meeting.

Mayor Tom Daly said he favors allowing potbellied pigs “as long as the law protects the neighbors’ rights to health and safety.”

Houston said she favors regulations for owners of potbellied pigs, such as requiring vaccinations. She said she is relieved the city may loosen up. “They need to update an antiquated law. It’s called progress. . . . I truly believed in our City Council [members] and that they’d do the right thing.”

And she said she could guess Mu Shu’s reaction to the city’s change of heart: “She’s going to be happy that she won’t have to be removed from her home.”