This little piggie

By Tom Waring
Times Staff Writer

Jackie Saunders’ next-door neighbors have very different opinions of her.
"She’s no problem at all," said Dominic Roberto. "You don’t even know she’s around."
Shawn Glynn begs to differ. He thinks Jackie, a 3-year-old black Vietnamese pot-bellied pig, must go because her owners don’t clean up after her.
"I’d rather not go out in my yard and smell pig feces," said Glynn, who lives with his wife and three kids.
Jackie, who turns 4 on Oct. 20, lives with her owners, Charlie and Terry Saunders, in a rowhome on the 12400 block of Rambler Road in Parkwood.
The pig has been the family pet since December 2001. She was a present to Charlie Saunders upon his retirement from the United States Postal Service.
"I wanted a long-legged blonde, not a pig," he joked.
Jack McFadden and Dennis Juda, who worked with him at Boulevard Station, remembered that Terry Saunders had mentioned once that she wanted a pot-bellied pig as a pet.
McFadden and Juda brought the baby pig in a cage to Saunders’ retirement party at Reale’s. The pig — named Jackie D in honor of the men who bought her — delighted the crowd by running around the bar.
"I said, ‘I hope you rented that thing, because I ain’t taking that home,’" Charlie Saunders recalled.
Charlie and Terry Saunders took the pig home that night but weren’t sure if they were allowed to keep it. They wanted to make sure before they grew attached to it.
So, Terry Saunders called the 8th Police District and said she was told by an officer that the pig was legal. Soon, Jackie — whose diet consists of fruits, vegetables and pig food — became part of the family and grew to her current weight of about 150 pounds.
Glynn had no problem with Jackie, at first, because she was small. But, he said, as the pig grew, so did her feces and the smell in the back yard.
The neighbor contacted city officials, who told him the pig was not legal.
Soon, several city agencies paid Jackie a visit. Her owners weren’t worried, since they said they pick up her droppings in the yard and pour vinegar on the spot to kill the smell. They also put up a piece of metal next to the fence that separates their property from Glynn’s to prevent her urine from seeping into his yard after rainfall. And they said Jackie doesn’t make any noise.
In September 2004, though, the city issued a violation that included a $25 fine. The pig owners eventually paid the fine, but weren’t told to get rid of Jackie.
The city also responded to a complaint that pig urine was leaking out of the garage. Charlie Saunders explained that the "urine" was actually water that ran after he defrosted his freezer.
Glynn didn’t buy that explanation.
"I know what urine smells like," he said.
In May of this year, the city filed a civil suit against the pig owners in Municipal Court. They hired an attorney, Sam DiMatteo. On June 29, all parties went to court, where the city indicated it wanted the pig removed from the house. The hearing was continued to July 26.
Deputy City Solicitor Ann Pasquariello pointed to a law, signed in July 2004, that says:
"No person shall keep a farm animal anywhere except:
• at a licensed slaughterhouse or commercial retailer of live animals sold to be killed for use as food;
• if the animal was purchased to be killed for food and is kept for no more than 24 hours;
• at a zoological park;
• at a veterinary hospital or clinic;
• at an animal shelter;
• at a circus or other licensed entertainment venue;
• at a facility used for educational or scientific purposes, such as schools or laboratories; or
• on a parcel of real property of 3 or more acres, provided this subsection shall not apply with respect to pigs."
A farm animal is defined as "any chicken, goose, duck, turkey, goat, sheep, pig, cow, or other farm animal, provided such other farm animal presents a public nuisance due to smell and/or noise. Does not include a cat or dog."
"The law’s clear," Glynn said. "Pigs are illegal in Philadelphia."
Glynn, along with a sanitation division employee and an aide to City Councilman Brian O’Neill, all testified for the city.
DiMatteo called an official from the city’s animal control unit, along with Terry Saunders and Theresa Anello, who lives two doors away.
Municipal Court Judge Bob Blasi is expected to issue his ruling on Oct. 6.
Most Rambler Road residents are hoping Jackie stays and have signed a petition that she doesn’t smell or make noise and isn’t a nuisance.
"She’s the cutest little girl," Anello said. "Jackie’s been in my house I don’t know how many times."
DiMatteo said Glynn is off base with his criticism that Jackie is a nuisance.
"Nobody else in the neighborhood seems to think that," he said.
Glynn doesn’t care that the rest of the block favors keeping the pig.
"They don’t live next to her," he said.
Glynn said it’s an issue of quality of life, and he said the judge would be setting a bad precedent by letting the pig stay.
"Who’s to say that everybody can’t have a pig?" he asked.
DiMatteo said Jackie should stay because she is not a farm animal, but a domesticated pet. The attorney and his clients point to March 1, 1998, the day then-Gov. Tom Ridge declared "Pot-Bellied Pig Day" in Pennsylvania.
"Jackie’s not a slaughter pig. She’s a pet," Terry Saunders said.
For now, Jackie will continue to live in the family basement and have the run of the first floor. She’ll share vanilla Mr. Softee ice cream with Jasmine, a dog down the street. She’ll cuddle with Charlie as he watches Notre Dame and Penn State football games.
And she’ll keep taking her walks around the block and doing her neighbors a favor by eating their dandelions.
"Jackie gets along with all the doggies and kids," Terry Saunders said.
It’s unclear if Jackie will have to leave the house if Blasi rules against her, or if she can remain while her owners appeal to Commonwealth Court. Her family won’t move if Jackie goes — she could be relocated to a nearby farm — and Glynn vows to stay even if Jackie does. ••
Reporter Tom Waring can be reached at 215-354-3034 or twaring@phillynews.com