Glendale Heights trustees, following the lead of other suburbs, have decided that Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs, the newly popular and controversial pets, must be banished from town.
The Asian swine started arriving in the U.S. five years ago, and one went on sale recently at a Glendale Heights pet store.
But just as soon, a debate erupted over whether they should be legal.
Pot-bellied pig advocates claim that the pigs with fat stomachs are odor- free, clean and able to be housebroken. The pigs generally weigh no more than 150 pounds, the advocates say.
But people like Village President Michael Camera did not buy the pig owners` defense.
”A pig is a pig, and a pig does stink,” he said at the Village Board meeting Thursday night.
Camera joined others in a 5-1 vote to tell Village Atty. Don Storino to draft an ordinance making it clear that Glendale Heights frowns on pig ownership.
At a future meeting, the board will vote officially to ban the animals.
Wheeling has already prohibited the pigs, Storino said, and Camera cited the example of Laddie, the Chicago pig whose owners are embroiled in a legal dispute with their condominium association over their right to keep him.
”That thing in Chicago weighs 250 pounds,” Camera said. ”One day it`s going to run into a kid and kill him.”
Laddie`s owner, Thomas Stern, said Friday that his pet ”topped out at 148.”
Glendale Heights officials had several opinions about the pigs.
”A pig is a pig. . . . When I look at a pig, I want to eat one,”
Trustee Chuck Fonte said.
”A pig, for me, personally, is not something I will allow in my house,” Trustee Ben Fajardo said.
But Trustee Geraldine O`Brien said, ”I just think it`s unconstitutional to stop anyone from having a pet.”
She was the sole supporter of allowing the foreign pigs in Glendale Heights.
Mike Guistolise, owner of Concord Green Pet Center, North Avenue and Bloomingdale Road, denounced the board as ”nuts” after hearing of its decision.
If village residents knew what the pigs were really like, he said, ”I bet you 75 percent of the people would have no objection.” He said he is not biased, because he did not expect to make much money from pig sales.
Guistolise said he has given up trying to sell the pig and plans to send it back to the breeder, who will refund his money.
Customers are intrigued by the sleek, black-haired pig and coo over how cute it is, but Guistolise said the word has gotten out that many towns are outlawing the breed and no one wants to pay the $350 price.
