We have written numerous times on this blog about pets in condominiums – pet provisions in Declarations, enforcement of pet rules, nuisance pets, numerous pet evictions, and more. We’ve even run a popular seminar titled “It’s Raining Cats and Dogs”.
But some residents of New York City are dealing with something even we have yet to tackle: they want to keep pigs in their units!
Unfortunately for these New Yorkers, the city’s health code forbids keeping pigs as pets. To keep their porky pals, owners have resorted to renovating their units, moving when they are discovered, and lobbying the city to change the health code.
Sadly for any pig lovers considering a move north of the border, Toronto’s Municipal Code prohibits keeping pigs in the city (along with cattle, goats, elephants, kangaroos, tigers, and a zoo full of other animals).
Condominium owners would face an even greater hurdle: even in condominiums that allow pets, most Declarations restrict allowable pets to ordinary household animals such as dogs, cats, birds, fish, and sometimes some small caged animals like hamsters. Keeping livestock is typically specifically prohibited.
Even if the Declaration is silent on the issue, condominium corporations are able to pass “reasonable” rules that restrict pet ownership. Many condominium corporations have used this ability to ban pets of more than 25 or 30 pounds – bad news for the owner of the New York pig named “Cholula,” who tips the scales at a hefty 200 pounds!
The relatively svelte swine “Petey” might have a better chance of getting to stay. At just 40 pounds, he was purchased as a therapy animal. In some Ontario cases, judges have looked to the Human Rights Code and ruled that owners of therapy animals can keep them, despite Declarations with clear no-pets clauses.
If you would prefer to eat a pig rather than keep one as a pet, you’re in luck: one Toronto restaurant is offering a discount on bacon sandwiches to anyone who bikes or runs a route through the streets of Toronto in the shape of a pig.
