A Kansas boy has to give up his emotional support pig due to a city ordinance that classifies the animal as livestock,
Owen Grigoreva, nine, of Newton, is feeling the weight of the ordinance as he and his family are preparing to give up his beloved potbelly pig, Ginger.
A Newton city ordinance classifies potbelly pigs as livestock, and therefore, does not allow them to live in normal residences. Despite the Grigoreva family never hearing a complaint about the pig or its smell, a neighbor still reported the service animal after seeing it in the family’s yard.
Since then, Owen’s mother Jessica had to go before the Newton City Commission to defend Ginger and hopefully keep her in the family.
‘I had tears, I was really stressed out,’ Owen told WIS News. ‘Please let Ginger stay with us because she’s a part of my family.’
Owen Grigoreva, nine, of Newton, is feeling the weight of the ordinance as he and his family are preparing to give up his potbelly pig, Ginger. A Newton city ordinance classifies potbelly pigs as livestock, and therefore, does not allow them to live in normal residences
‘I had tears, I was really stressed out,’ Owen said. ‘Please let Ginger stay with us because she’s a part of my family’
City officials are playing hard ball with the family, telling them they aren’t willing to make an exception for Ginger as it would cause chaos for them when other residents sought exceptions.
Newton City Commissioner Clint McBroom said he sympathized with the family and even prayed about the decision, but ultimately couldn’t budge on the ordinance.
‘[I] tried to come up with a reasonable solution,’ McBroom said, according to WIS News. He said he hopes the Grigoreva family can find a place for Ginger where they can go visit her.
‘My heart hurts for you guys, it really does,’ he told them at the meeting.
Mayor Leroy Koehn also supported the city commission, saying: ‘I think for me at this time, we need to stay the course and not make any changes, but I do think we need to think about it going forward.’
A representative from the police department told WIS News that they would help the family find new accommodations for Ginger.
City officials are playing hard ball with the family, telling them they aren’t willing to make an exception for Ginger as it would cause chaos for them when other residents sought exception
Jessica tried to argue at the meeting that Ginger shouldn’t be considered livestock as the pig is not considered food and is much smaller than other pigs.
‘They’re not food. They don’t get to be the size a regular hog does,’ she said.
She also argued that they choose a pig as a support animal due to her son’s allergies and a potbelly pig would fair better than a dog.
Newton resident Courtney Napier is support of the family keeping their animal and said it was ‘reasonable and fair’ as other towns like Wichita and Lawrence allowed them.
Another resident, who was not identified, said Ginger was a perfect opportunity for Newton to become open-minded.
‘At a minimum, I think there’s a lot of information we can learn about the pot-bellied pig before a definite decision,’ the resident said.
The family has started a Change.org petition to help them save Ginger. It has gain more than 700 of the 1,000 signatures its searching for in two days.