Joliet Family 'Ecstatic' About Pot-Bellied Pig Ordinance

JOLIET, IL — It’s all smiles and oinks at the Flannery house after the Joliet City Council approved an ordinance allowing homes to care for one pot-bellied pig.

DeAnn Flannery and her family, which includes their pot-bellied pig Tasha, were distraught when they were told they had to get rid of their pig, which they view as a family member and not just a pet.

Two years ago, the Flannery family got Tasha from the humane society in Woodstock, Illinois. She was a rescue pig and they brought her home to live with them on Emery Street.

“All of the neighbors dearly loved her,” Flannery said, adding that Habitat for Humanity would come over and bring apples and bananas.

In August, they moved to the 800 block of Kelly Avenue. That’s when an unknown neighbor squealed on them for a city ordinance violation claiming the family owned a farm animal.

With the support of thousands, many of whom DeAnn never even knew, the Joliet City Council approved having a pot-bellied pig as a pet.

Flannery wasn’t at the council meeting when the ordinance was approved. She was teaching a CPR class, but a good friend of hers was there and texted her about it while she was in class.

“I was clapping my hands and everyone was looking at me so I had to explain the whole story,” she said. “We are just ecstatic.”

And the reaction from family and friends has been just the same.

“I don’t know how many emails I got,” she said, adding that Tasha’s still been getting cards and gifts.

“There was a lady in Pennsylvania that asked for my address. She wanted to send a congratulatory gift to Tasha, so she sends this huge basket of fruit,” she said.

Flannery said she has been habitually unlucky in life, until she got Tasha, who also helped mend the family after her son took his life several years ago.

Even her children are getting noticed for the family’s pet pig.

“They’ll get, ‘Are you related to Tasha?’ and they’re like, ‘Well, we’re not brother and sister.’”

While who exactly complained about Tasha is still a mystery, Flannery has her suspicions, but believes she’s won them over.

“That neighbor (we suspect) has actually signed our petition and comes over quite regularly,” she said. “I think he’s thinking, ‘Oh, I jumped the gun on this.’ I think it scared him a little bit in the beginning, but he’s warmed up to Tasha.”

With Joliet’s approval of keeping a pot-bellied pig comes a list of rules, all of which Flannery already complies with. Still, her advice to people looking to get a pig is to think carefully about it and do some research. She’s concerned about pigs that have been cross-bred with swine and those who buy a little pig without realizing the size it will grow to.

“It would be good for the city to keep track of where the pot-bellied pigs are,” she said, adding that vets should turn in their observations to the city.

photos courtesy of DeAnn Flannery