We are working to gain the support of our community in amending current Berea, Kentucky City Ordinances. The current ordinance includes mini pigs in the "livestock" category which prohibits the keeping of a "unit", or 1 to 2 pigs of ANY size or weight on a lot less than 1 acre, and within 75 feet of neighboring properties within city limits. There is also no provision in the current ordinance differentiating between a pig that is harbored outdoors, a pig that is allowed indoors, and a pig that is permitted to transition between outdoor and indoor environments.

American Mini Pig, most commonly a potbellied pig or similar breed, belong in the domestic animal category much more than the livestock category. Today, these mini pigs are commonly kept as pets in people’s homes, even in some urban areas. For nearly all of these owners, the animals are not kept for use and profit or regarded as an asset as livestock is defined. Mini pigs, most of which are the size of the average medium-size dog, are kept for companionship or pleasure and treated affectionately as per the definition of a pet. They are also strong candidates for use in animal-assisted intervention by mental health professionals in a therapy setting.

Unfortunately, across the country pigs are frequently removed from loving homes and placed in shelters causing undue stress to the pigs, which are extremely hard to place in a new home because they have difficulty in adjusting to these extreme changes as well as city regulations limiting the amount of acceptable homes for a miniature pig. It's been said that 90% of pigs are re-homed or relocated before their FIRST birthday. Our goal in changing this ordinance is to reduce the number of times that pigs are removed from their home in Berea. You will soon learn these pigs are not much different than any other domestic pet including man’s best friend, the dog. Our plan, which begins with changing this ordinance, is to help educate the public and city officials about the difference between livestock and domesticated pet potbelly pigs.

There are hundreds of people like us that have already petitioned this change throughout the country, with many being successful. Mini pigs are sensitive and intelligent, and they deserve to be treated like pets. They are not bacon; they are a best friends, a life saver, a reason to keep moving forward, and they offer unconditional love to nurturing caretakers. It is only fair that the citizens of Berea get to (legally) experience the joy of owning a mini pig.

Contrary to popular belief and opinion, pigs do not enjoy being dirty and in fact are very clean in a nurturing environment.  Given the choice, mini pigs prefer to be clean and this decreases any smell they may have. Pigs also have few sweat glands and low concentration of melanin in their skin, so they lack the ability to cool their body temperature and can get sun burnt. Because of this, livestock pigs are known for using mud and muck to cover their bodies as a way of cooling themselves, contributing to the inaccurate and unfair stereotype that pigs are naturally filthy animals. Given the opportunity, miniature pigs and even livestock pigs prefer to cool themselves and bathe with clean water.

We believe that the key to gaining support for these animals as pets is dispelling the many common misconceptions about these animals. Miniature pigs are not food, they are not dangerous, they do not smell, they are incredibly intelligent, and they offer great companionship. Compared to mini pigs, dogs are significantly more likely to attack or behave aggressively toward humans. Miniature pigs are also highly intelligent and capable of learning more commands than their canine counterparts, including house training. It should be noted that miniature pigs cannot be certified as service animals, as they are physiologically limited from performing the tasks necessary for that work, but as mentioned earlier they are very strong candidates for being therapy animals or emotional support animals.

We are currently the owners of 2 mini potbelly pigs, Norbert and Daggett, which we have had since they were 3 weeks old. They were born on March 30th of 2019 and are now approaching their second birthday.  We got these pigs to use as therapy animals, have had them neutered, and have been working on temperament training and training them on commands. They are stars in our neighborhood with many neighbors stopping daily to talk to or pet them, take pictures of them, or just drive by to say hello.  They are inside-outside pets just like our dogs, and have a pen inside the house where they sleep at night and nap during the day when they are not outside. We have received no complaints until recently when someone who does not live in our neighborhood filed a complaint which led to us being told by codes enforcement that they needed to be re-homed.  We have met with the codes department and had neighbors who came to the meeting to show support for us and our pigs. During the meeting, our neighbors stated that the mini pigs are not a nuisance, they do not have a smell, and that they do not feel that having pet pigs in the neighborhood lowered property value. The codes department stated that they must read and interpret the codes as they are written, so this is where we are - working on changing and updating these codes.

We ask that our neighbors, friends, fellow pig parents, or anyone else seeking social change sign our petition to have this ordinance amended to allow all miniature pigs to live in Berea as pets, acknowledging the fact that there is a difference between the pigs that are raised for food and those that are loving family pets.

We will include this petition in our publication for public hearing in hope that our city council will amend current ordinance to allow mini pigs to live in pig-educated homes, like ours. Please share this so we can help bring education and awareness to our cause.

Thank you for your support!