Agenda - Council - 12/13/2016 - Laserfiche WebLink

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We are requesting a non-traditional animal license for our female pot-bellied pig who is 27" long, 14" tall, and 8"wide weighing approximately 45 pounds.Our pot-bellied pig (Peter—named by our 8 and 13 year old boys) is almost a year old.The Arizona Exotic Animal Hospital states on its website, "Much of your pig's growth will occur in the first 9-12 months." Many other sources have confirmed this information regarding pot-bellied pigs.The AEAH also states that growth may take place after the first ear, but it will be very minimal. Based on these findings,we conclude our pot-bellied i is ver close Y rY g , p pig � y to being full grown. The following information can be found on the following website and many other sources: http://potbellypigs.com/wordpressl/ F Pot-bellied pigs are social, communicative, intelligent, affectionate, and curious pets.They are similar to dogs, but they are smarter. Pot-bellied pigs are social pets in that they tend to get depressed if they are without human or other-animal contact for a large period of time. If they are upset, they will throw their head about, and if they are happy, they will wag their tail.They also have a very strong sense of smell that often entertains their curiosity.You will find pot-bellied pigs sniffing-out drugs for police drug forces and also sniffing-out mushrooms for mushroom distributors. Pigs are ranked 5th in man's smartest animal list, and it shows in their behavior and memory.Also, pot-bellied pigs are very clean animals despite the misconceptions portrayed by the media.They lack sweat glands, and if given the chance,they will only use a single corner of their living space as a bathroom spot.There is a stigma about pot-bellied pigs and their smell, but that is also a misconception. Pot-bellied pigs are completely odorless, clean animals.They do not take on a smell like most dog breeds will after getting wet, playing, etc.So long as their excrement is cleaned up consistently,they will be an odorless pet.As you can see, there are a few ideas regarding pot-bellied pigs that are purely misconceptions.They can be as good of a 4 pet, if not better, than a dog. We, in good faith,thought we had done the research correctly,so we went out and bought a pot-bellied pig.We went down to city planner Chris Anderson's office on November 9th, 2016 to confirm our chickens were in compliance with the City of Ramsey's chicken ordinance. While we confirmed our chickens were in compliance, we thought we might as well double-check that our pot-bellied pig was as G well.This is where we learned the document we found on the internet was not finalized, and pigs are not permitted on Ramsey lots<3 acres in size. Up to this point,to my knowledge,we have not taken any complaints on the pot-bellied pig.We just found out that a pot-bellied pig required a license.When we first started looking into getting a pot-bellied pig, we searched what the ordinance was for the City of Ramsey regarding pigs.We searched the City of Ramsey's website for an ordinance involving pot-bellied pigs and found no results. Our next search was on Google,where we entered "City of Ramsey pot- bellied pig ordinance". Here is where we found a PDF file that looked like an official City of Ramsey E" ordinance.This document had information on restricted animals in the City of Ramsey, and pigs were among the list of animals restricted on <3.0 acre parcels with the exception of pot-bellied pigs(see attached document).The differentiation between the two types of pigs in this document(commercial and pot-bellied),demonstrates how it would make sense they may have different restrictions. Most of