
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, November 1, 1993                   TAG: 9401140015
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DALE RIFFLE
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

PET PIGS MAY HOGTIE THEIR OWNERS

IN THE OCT. 10 edition of the Roanoke Times & World-News, Karen Davis wrote about Hillary, a potbellied pig living in the Goodrich household (``Vietnamese potbellied pigs make clean and lovable pets''). Ms. Davis wrote that potbellied pigs are gaining popularity because of their clean habits, small size and good dispositions. As director of the country's only sanctuary for abused, abandoned, neglected or otherwise homeless miniature pigs, I believe her column perpetuates the myths that miniature-pig breeders and promoters have been selling to an unsuspecting public for years.

Pigs are very intelligent animals and become bored quite easily. A bored pig living inside a house will find ways to alleviate its boredom: chewing on drywall, tearing down wallpaper, rooting up carpet and linoleum. We have received many phone calls from people experiencing severe problems while trying to raise a pig in the house.

Also, most pigs do not stay small. The public seems to be under the impression that they mature at a weight of 30 to 40 pounds. At the sanctuary, the average weight of a mature potbellied pig is 130 to 150 pounds, and the original pigs imported into the United States matured at more than 200 pounds. A pig does not reach its mature weight until it's between 21/2 and 3 years of age. The statistics Ms. Davis mentioned regarding the size of these pigs are the same statistics used by breeders and promoters to sell pigs. The sanctuary recently received a pig from New York weighing in at 226 pounds, and it is registered with the same Potbellied Pig Registry Service Inc. mentioned in her column. Several pigs at the sanctuary are registered with that service and all of them are more than 130 pounds at maturity.

Although pigs can be companionable, we receive many calls that they have become aggressive. The sanctuary has taken in several. We do not believe that these pigs are house pets as they are quite territorial and, being herd animals, must set up a hierarchical structure for the herd. We believe that when they are in the house full time, the house becomes the pig's territory and the people living there become the pig's herd. When a new entity enters into that territory or herd, it must have a place within the hierarchical structure. With pigs, that place is determined by fighting.

Ms. Davis also states that potential pet-pig owners should expect to pay between $200 and $500 for a pig and should buy from a reputable breeder. At the sanctuary, we have pigs that were purchased from reputable breeders for double those amounts. Some owners have spent upwards of $350 to have their pet pig flown to the sanctuary, as they could not give it away for free and feared it would end up in a slaughterhouse. Yes, these pigs are being sent to slaughterhouses.

I hope this clarifies some of the misconceptions your readers may have about potbellied pigs. In less than one year, 57 pigs currently call the sanctuary home. With six more pigs due to arrive at the end of this month, I do not believe they are ``gaining popularity,'' as Ms. Davis states. As well as maintaining the health and welfare of our current residents, we are also seeking adoptive homes for pigs in New York, San Francisco, Philadelphia and Key West. And, there is a waiting list of pigs that need to come to the sanctuary.

Dale Riffle is sanctuary director of the Potbellied pig Interest Group & Shelter in Charles Town, W.Va.

by CNB