PEMBROKE PINES, FLA. (WSVN) - These little piggies are gonna stay home.
The City of Pembroke Pines has given permission to a couple to keep their two beloved pet pigs.
“These pigs are pets, and they are not farm animals, so I will dismiss the code citation violation,” said Special Magistrate Alexia Gertz.
The ruling, issued Thursday morning, allows Michael Owens and Theresa Shaia to keep their pet pigs, Frankenstein and Beetlejuice, much to their pleasure.
“I don’t even know what to say. I can’t believe that we actually beat the city,” Owens said.
“I cannot say thank you enough. I mean, from the bottom of my heart, they mean so much to us,” Shaia said.
The couple was originally alarmed when a neighbor complained the pigs smelled, causing the city to order the couple to remove them since they classified them as “farm animals.”
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Owens and Shaia did not give up and told the city that Frankenstein and Beetlejuice are not farm animals but a part of their family. The magistrate agreed.
“I do find that these particular pigs are not considered farm animals,” said Gertz.
And their owners are happier than a pig in mud about the ruling.
7News cameras captured Owens as he let his pets know they are not going anywhere. “Hey, you guys won,” he said as the animals stared into the camera.
Beetlejuice is only 6 months old, and with the average life span of a pig being between 17 and 20 years, Owens and Shaia hope to have him and Frankenstein with them for a long time.
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