Gwendolyn’s Fight Goes On
It’s a good thing potbellied pig owners are as stubborn as their pets, otherwise by today Gwendolyn, a Vietnamese porker, would have been a goner. Kudos to Ms. Pat Brown who has refused to do-in her pet at the behest of her county government. As long as PG County Government persists in its needless and small-minded agenda of cleansing its sterile suburbia of pig-kind, it must be shamed.
Washington Post has written about it.
National Enquirer will be writing about it.
And tonight a second major D.C. news station will be covering the story.
I’ve already written extensively on this situation here and here. I do not believe pet owners’ rights should be infringed upon unless either public safety or the animal’s welfare is a stake. As documented by the Washington Post story, county officials are trying to use the public’s ignorant pig stereotypes in order to make this a case about animal cruelty, as if Gwendolyn has been living a miserable life in the care of Ms. Brown. “They [pigs] love to be in mud, love to be in water, they love to root,” Rodney C. Taylor, chief of Animal Management in the county, is reported to have said, “they need to be on a farm where they can really enjoy being a pig.” In short, if you read between the lines, pigs are gross, dirty and would muck up the suffocatingly bland environment we’ve worked so hard to create in the suburbs.
However you take it, this argument has no logical bearing and it is based on a false understanding of the nature of potbellied pigs anyway, a strawman. First, let’s attack the absence of logic. Mud, water, and rooting room: all things that are available in many PG County suburban homes in abundant supply. Even based on his understanding of the nature of a pig, this alone cancels out the notion that somehow keeping potbellied pigs in a suburban home with a decently sized yard is somehow cruel to the animal. Gwendolyn did not look unhappy inside Pat Brown’s house, piled with blankets as she was, or for that matter in her spacious shed outside, even in the snow. No, this isn’t about the welfare of potbellied pigs, particularly that of Gwendolyn as moving her now would surely expedite her death.
Instead, what is it about? I believe it is more about government busybodies who care more about whether you have a perfectly manicured lawn than you do. So much so, that regardless of the lack of disruption caused by your pet, pig or whatever else, and regardless of the non-threatening character of your pet, they are willing to tell you what you can and can’t do or can and can’t have on your property. Banning pets like Gwendolyn is more about imposing their vision of suburbia on the community than anything else, irrespective of the individual rights they are breaking in order to do so.
Furthermore, to clarify, pigs are not dirty animals that create giant, repugnant mud holes wherever they go. I’ve watched my two piglets wander through the yard bellowing out a sense of despair when they have to get their little hooves dirty and trying ever so delicately to avoid the mushy, wet spots. More than anything, pigs like to be comfortable. This is the end of everything they do. The more comfort they have, the happier they are. Yes, on very hot summer days, I’ve seen my pigs plop down in a mud puddle to cool down or more often lie down in the rushing waters of the creek outside, as is not uncommon for human folk to do. But I’ve also seen them rush into the house for the cool man-made breeze of air conditioning on a hot day. And on a cold day, they burst through the door to snuggle by the woodstove. And at nights, they like to cozy up on the couch with me under some blankets and watch some TV. So yes, pigs do enjoy bathing in the summer and aerating the soil with their soft snouts, but they also enjoy the pleasures of a feather-puffed pillow mattress, the educational opportunities living in-house with humans, listening to musicians in training play their didgeridoos, and exposing themselves to the diversity of places the world has to offer.
And do you know what? I think PG County should let other pigs like Gwendolyn do the same.