Pig quandary in Westlake




Many years ago when I was a young police officer, I knew my town laws inside out. One of them forbade “beasts of burden” from entering the public park.

One year, the city allowed a traveling circus to set up there. When I discovered the circus brought camels with it, I thought I would make a name for myself by writing up a breach of the “beast of burden” law and bringing it to the city’s attention.

A supervisory officer took me aside. Camels in a circus were no longer beasts of burden, he said. They were performers. He reminded me that I served the people of the town and it was my duty to try to understand the purpose of a law as it applied to the people’s best interests and not try to take the fine print so literally, especially when it was so obviously out of date.

When Westlake was incorporated, it was carved out of a rural area. People did keep cows and horses. You can understand that the development of a new residential area needed to draw the line. It’s worked. I don’t see any farmyards within the city boundaries today.

But Chuy the pig is so obviously not a farm animal. Chuy is not being raised for commercial gain, for making bacon, for exhibition in a 4-H class at the county show. He’s not kept in a pen in the yard with a bunch of peers.

It’s pretty obvious Chuy is a pet. So where is the common sense? If Chuy can be labeled a farm animal, so can every Jack Russell, border collie and other breed of traditional farm working dog that trots around Westlake on the end of a leash.

When someone called to complain about Chuy, it would have been nice if officials had given them the same good advice once handed down to me. Instead, we now have to go through a ridiculous rigmarole of orders and code changes, unnecessary work hardly in the interests of the people.

It’s those who would complain about Chuy and the officials who can’t give them a sensible answer who need an order placed against them. People like that are the nuisance to our society, not the owners of a harmless pet pig.

And Voltaire’s observation, written in large print, needs to be flown on a flag over City Hall.

John Daykin

Westlake Village



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