A Council Wants To Ban This Beloved Local Pig From Walking The Streets, And How Dare They?
His name is Grunt, and he's "a real people pig".
A man in the Victorian town of Wangaratta has been forbidden by the local council from walking his 3-year-old pet pig down the street, in what might just be the greatest miscarriage of justice in human and/or porcine history, don’t @ me.
Matthew Evans has been walking his pig, whose name is Grunt, around Wangaratta on a lead for the past two years, but in May received a notice from the council warning him that the practice breached the “community amenity” law which states that a person must not “unreasonably interfere with the use or enjoyment by any person of the Council Land or Road an/or act in a way which endangers any person”.
Evans posted the letter to Grunt’s official Facebook page where the pair received an outpouring of support from local residents rightfully praising Grunt as the legend he clearly is.
“My kids absolutely LOVE seeing Grunt out and about,” wrote one commenter. “Council should be ashamed of themselves!”
“Grunt is part of the community,” wrote another. “So many locals and visitors comment on him he is trained he is on a lead what’s the problem council? [sic]”
In a statement given to the Border Mail, a Wangaratta council spokesperson said there had been complaints about Grunt stealing food from children, and cited an incident in which Grunt apparently got free from Evans’ property and police spent several hours trying to contain him.
“While we understand the angst about this issue, council needs to put community safety first,” the spokesperson said. “‘If it was a dog that had raised the same level of community concern, council would have been notified and required to act.”
“Council understands the bonds that exist between people and their pets and do not wish to separate the owner from Grunt but just ask that the pig be exercised in areas away from members of the public,” they added.
But Grunt’s owner has disputed the allegations against his pet. In a letter to the council that he also posted on Facebook, Evans called the suggestion that police were deployed to hunt for the pig “categorically untrue”, claiming instead that police were simply warned about the escape and that Grunt was found “within a matter of hours thanks to community support”. Evans also said he was not aware of Grunt ever stealing food and that “we are very careful to warn children that have food in their hands to put it down before interacting with Grunt”.
In an interview with 3AW radio, Evans called Grunt “a real people pig” and said he was especially surprised by the council’s position because “about two days before I got this letter the new mayor was walking around the streets with a goat”.
Feature image via Grunt The Pig/Facebook