Hank Clemmons, a proud owner of two pot-bellied pigs, received a letter from Garden Grove last year that instructed him to remove the animals from his home within two weeks.<\/p>\n
He has kept Peppa, 5, and Willow, 4, as pets and considers them part of his family.<\/p>\n
But as a neighbor\u2019s complaint revealed to him, Garden Grove considers pot-bellied pigs as livestock, not pets, and bans residents from owning them.<\/p>\n
Clemmons launched an online petition<\/a> in December that called on the city to lift the ban, an effort that collected more than 1,500 signatures. Clemmons also met with members of the Garden Grove City Council in hopes that he could keep his pets rather than sell his home to move somewhere else where they are allowed.<\/p>\n All the advocacy appears to have to paid off.<\/p>\n On Tuesday, the City Council moved forward with changing its law to allow residents to keep pot-bellied pigs as pets subject to certain regulations.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are amazing animals,\u201d Clemmons told the council. \u201cIt\u2019s not like going to a petting farm and seeing pigs. [They] are more like dogs.\u201d<\/p>\n Councilmember George Brietigam requested the changes to the city\u2019s law after meeting with Clemmons and his pets.<\/p>\n \u201cI got to meet the two pot-bellied pigs in question and they\u2019re just adorable,\u201d he said. \u201cBy voting yes on this, we\u2019re not saying all pigs are allowed in Garden Grove. It\u2019s a very specific Vietnamese pot-bellied pig that we\u2019re allowing that has been bred [as] human pets.\u201d<\/p>\n Under proposed regulations, pet owners can only have up to two pot-bellied pigs. Breeding would be banned and the animals would have to be spayed or neutered by two months of age. Pot-bellied pig pets would also have to be current on vaccinations and be leashed when walked.<\/p>\n Pet owners must have a licensed veterinarian remove, cut or file tusks on male pot-bellied pigs older than 2 years down to less than 2 inches.<\/p>\n Other cities in Orange County allow residents to keep pot-bellied pigs as pets. <\/p>\n Anaheim\u2019s ordinance allows for only one such animal per residential lot \u2014 a law that changed after about a dozen pot-bellied pigs were marched in front of City Hall<\/a> by their owners in 1998. <\/p>\n