ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, August 2, 1996 TAG: 9608020048
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHRISTINA NUCKOLS STAFF WRITER
It took a year to do it, but Vinton has finally expelled its three pot-bellied pigs. The owners, however, are remaining tight-lipped on the whereabouts of Arnold, Charlotte and Wilbur.
Gerald and Emma Saunders said the pigs left their West Cleveland Avenue home Wednesday.
"We done away with them, and I just don't think it's nobody's business what we did with them," Gerald Saunders said. "We're just keeping it in the family what we done with them. If I say what we done with them, half the people would be down on us worse than they already are."
He declined to say whether the pigs were euthanized or adopted by another pig-lover, saying he and his wife haven't even told all of their children and grandchildren. He said the information is being kept from the youngest members of the family as well as two older children with disabilities.
The Saunderses said "three or four" people offered to take the pigs but later backed out. On July 25, however, Emma Saunders had said she wasn't sure she would allow the pigs to be adopted.
"I appreciate the offers to keep them, but I'm going to do what I think is best," she said during a telephone interview. "They can't call me a pet killer. They're my pets, and I think I should be able to keep them."
She said she considered placing her pets with two women in Roanoke County, but they later said they couldn't take them because dogs had attacked other pigs already on the property.
The next closest offer came from Sherry Owens of Bedford County, who said she lives in a wooded area about 20 miles from Vinton.
Owens, who has three pigs of her own, said last week that Saunders spoke with her several times but never visited the site.
"She said she's going to keep them to the end, and I said 'Then what?' and she said she didn't know," Owens said. "If she has them put to sleep, she's going to get a visit from me. I'll be mighty upset."
She said Thursday that the Saunderses were no longer willing to speak with her about adopting the pigs.
Emma Saunders "just said it's over with; it's done," Owens said. "I'm hoping maybe one day they will call me and say I can still have them. I don't want to keep pushing them and getting in their business."
Asked about Owens' offer, Emma Saunders said she had seen the Bedford County pigs, which she described as "skinny little things."
Veterinary clinics in the region knew nothing about the pigs, and the Roanoke Valley SPCA was not asked to euthanize the animals.
"I wouldn't do it," executive director Al Alexander said. "I won't do healthy animals unless a judge ordered me to do it."
Neighbors in the area said they hadn't seen the pigs Thursday, and were unaware of what had happened to them.
After the court ruling, the Saunderses searched for a home in Roanoke County, which permits pot-bellied pigs to be kept in residential areas as pets. However, they said they were unable to locate a house large enough for their household, which included six of their 10 children, four grandchildren, two dogs, five birds and the three pigs.
The Saunderses got their first pig in November 1994, when Gerald gave Arnold to Emma as a Christmas present. Gerald then obtained Wilbur for himself; a family friend gave them Charlotte.
After receiving complaints from a neighbor, town officials last summer ordered the pigs removed. However, a Roanoke County General District judge ruled that Vinton's animal control ordinance was too vague. Town Council amended its ordinance to specifically ban Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs, and the law was upheld in June in Circuit Court.
Emma Saunders said she made a last effort to save the pigs by faxing a letter to the White House. She said she later spoke with an aide there.
"I asked her how come I hadn't heard from the president, and she said he didn't have time for me," she said.
She said she doesn't regret the time and money she invested in her battle with town officials.
"I gave them a run for the money, though, didn't I?" she said. "I still think I won, and I gave it a hell of a good shot."
"The town of Vinton and the neighbors, they can rest now," Gerald Saunders said. "No pigs here, but I will be back with another pet."
Staff writers Sarah Hatch and Anthony St. Clair contributed to this story.
LENGTH: Medium: 80 linesby CNB