A lot more Salt Lake County residents are "bringing home the bacon." Whether they're "fryin' it up in a pan" is doubtful, though.
Rather, they're opting to raise and care for their own little baconmakers at home. Seriously.Vietnamese pot-belly pigs have replaced raccoons and ferrets as the pet of choice for valley residents.
And not everyone's happy about it.
The oinkers are creating a stink in metropolitan neighborhoods - and thus with animal control officials.
"They (the pigs) aren't illegal to have as pets, but because they are considered livestock, a family has to live in an area that's zoned agricultural to have them," said Bill Mumford, a Salt Lake County animal control officer."Some people just want to have something that is different."
Nationally, the pig has emerged as the pet to have. So the pigs, and complaints about them, are growing in numbers.
The Salt Lake County Division of Animal Services responds to about 900 to 1,000 animal-related calls a month - from police, neighbors and people who have been bitten - in unincorporated Salt Lake County and Midvale.
Some calls - received by the county or city animal control departments - are as wild as the creatures they find.
Several years ago, when Murray firemen responded to a condominium fire, they found a full-grown, 6-foot alligator making a hissing noise in the bathtub.
"I exited the building post haste and turned the matter over to animal control," said Murray Fire Chief Wendell Coombs. "It scared the hell out of me."
Just last week, South Salt Lake police and animal control officials were summoned to help an exotic dancer find her stage partner - Mython, a 7-year-old, 12-foot-long Burmese python. Once the slithering creature was captured, Rod and Josette Siddoway were cited for having a pet they didn't know was illegal.
"People pick up on whatever is the newest craze and they (pot-belly pigs) happen to be it now," said Peggy H. Hinnen, director of Salt Lake County's Division of Animal Services. "The sad part is that people get something like that without realizing what the laws are, what kind of specialized care or housing it might need."
If it's cute, many people buy with no questions asked.
"The fact is they are cute when they are little, but not so cute when they grow up," Hinnen said. "That's the case with a lot of the exotics. The children are a lot easier to handle than the juveniles. The little ones are cuter, more playful, than the adults."
Although Salt Lake County has a list of animals that are legal and those that aren't (see box), animal control officers nonetheless continue to pick up snakes, skunks, badgers and weasels.
Raccoons and ferrets are the most common illegal pets, which concerns the county because of the animals' inability to be vaccinated adequately for rabies.
Rabid animals are not common, but still a concern to the county - especially considering that the population of skunks, bats and raccoons is increasing.
Since a rabid dog bit a child in Kearns in June, any raccoon picked up is now tested at the state laboratory, Hinnen said.
What happens to illegal pets picked up by animal control?
Initially, most are taken to a county animal shelter, where officials determine the best place to put them.
Hogle Zoo takes some, as does the Tracy Aviary. Others are turned over to the State Division of Wildlife Resources.
"We use whatever resources are in the community," Hinnen said. "Some are euthanasized."
What about their owners?
The fine for keeping an illegal pet in Salt Lake County can be as high as $1,000.
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(Additional information)
Pets prohibited
Pets prohibited in S.L. County
- Cat family: cheetah, cougar, leopard, lion, lynx, panther, mountain lion, tiger, wildcat.
- Dog family: wolves, part wolf, fox, part fox, coyote, part coyote and dingos.
- Porcupines
- All subhuman primates
- Raccoons
- Skunks
- Venomous fish and piranha
- Venomous snakes or lizards
- Weasels, martens, wolverines, ferrets, badgers, otters, ermine, mink, mongoose (pelt farmers excepted).