A Calgary woman has less than two weeks to find a new home for Priscilla, the pot-bellied pig she has owned for nearly five years, after City of Calgary bylaw officers deemed the pet as livestock.
Earlier this month, Nicole Harris received a visit from bylaw officers after one of her Penbrooke Heritage Estates neighbours filed a complaint regarding the pet pig.
“An officer attended the site, observed a pot-bellied pig on the site which is considered livestock under our Responsible Pet Ownership Bylaw,” said Inspector Doug Anderson of Calgary Community Standards.
According to the City of Calgary’s Responsible Pet Ownership Bylaw 23M2006, ‘No person shall keep livestock in any area of the city except where the keeping of livestock is allowed under the City of Calgary land use bylaw’. The officers gave Harris 30 days to relocate Priscilla outside of city limits.
“The specified penalty for an offence of having livestock in the city is $200 but the other part of it would be that we would have to look at getting an order to seize the animal and remove it from her care,” explained Anderson.
The heartbroken Harris responded by putting her home up for sale but she has yet to find a buyer as the deadline looms.
“I don’t stop crying because I know we’re not going to be together in 13 days,” said Harris. “The time is just going by so fast.”
Harris is looking to secure a temporary home for Priscilla until the house sells and the pair finds a new place to live outside the city. Harris has been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support during her predicament. “Unbelievable messages I’m receiving. People pouring their hearts out and offering their homes. It’s just unbelievable.”
Inspector Anderson says pot-bellied pigs, chickens and roosters are fairly common in Calgary but the urban environment is not an ideal living space for livestock. “With introducing livestock into a community you can bring in noise, odours, pests through the hay and the material that is left behind for the animals.”
A GoFundMe page has been created to help cover Priscilla’s room and board at her yet-to-be secured temporary home.
With files from CTV's Brad MacLeod
