Pigs still fall into the category of livestock animals by the USDA and the major city governments. It is important to check the state regulations before bringing the pet into your home. Many cities don’t allow pigs inside the city limits. Some cities allow pigs with some restrictive points, like one pig in a household, weight limits or vaccination requirements. You can contact your local city government office to look out for the right ordinances.
If your city is not zoned for the pigs, it is feasible to make your attempt to update or change the ordinance. The city council can be contacted to rewrite the laws and formulate the new suggestion floated by the government. If you search on the web, there will be many stories enlisting the changes made in the city’s zoning, as requested by the owners, for keeping pet minipigs.
Step by step guide to change of city zoning ordinances to legalize mini pigs:
1) It is important to directly contact the zoning council of the city before bringing the pet home. Once the pet gets into the home without looking at the laws, it could become a violation of the law and the officials find the owners with a big fine. It is never too late to stand up for your favorite pet and inquire about keeping it home from the right source. 2) The pets at home need to be spayed/neutered and kept at a proper place at home or a fenced yard. The pet should not be a trouble to anyone living around in the area. 3) Read the detailed zoning ordinance of the city to understand whatever is allowed. Use the information to build a strong case for challenging the present ordinance. 4) Your supportive documents and fact sheets would help in making a draft for the contact to the zoning officials. This part varies from one city to the other. This could be done through a City manager, City Secretary, the City Administrator, the Planning Committee or City Zoning committee. Ask your point of contact and move ahead with the required steps. You might be invited for a meeting with City Council for reviewing your proposal. 5) Once the review is done by the concerned committee, they might approve or deny the changes. The approval will be your win and the disapproval would require more facts about the pigs and the convincing documents to support your decision. Supporting Documents It is useful to submit the documents to keep mini pigs as pets. The proposals and ordinance codes are different and there is no standard procedure to be followed for getting the approval. The best you can do is to put your heard into it and show the officials how important these pets are for you. The most useful document is the 56-page packet courtesy from AMPA (American Mini Pig Association). The support from community members would be a catalyst to get powerful results in your support. The short letter can be written enlisting the reasons for owning the pet is important to you. Gather the ordinances and statistics from the nearby cities which have permitted the pet. A local attorney for help.
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