Slatington Borough Council combed over the wording of Animal Ordinance 60 Monday night to determine if there is a potbellied pig pet loophole.

The issue came to Council's attention after a potbellied pig got loose in the borough and was shot by police.The animal ordinance states that residents are not allowed to own an animal "not normally purchased in a retail pet store," said borough solicitor Thomas H. Dinkelacker."The ordinance that deals with animals is consistent with the zoning ordinance," he said."It's really pretty clear that potbellied pigs are not permitted in the borough," Dinkelacker said.The solicitor suggested the board may want to update the ordinance to allow for the increasingly popular pet."It's up to the board if it wants to amend the ordinance, but it will need to be amended in the zoning ordinance as well," he said."The little I know of the events, part of the problem is people didn't know who the pig belonged to. It might be reasonable to require a permit, if there is an issue the owner could be notified. We license dogs on a county level but we'd have a local registration for police to have the information," he said.Pets or swine?"Potbellied pigs are not raised to eat. They're pets," said councilman Joseph Wechsler."They're in the pig family but not pigs," he added."With everything you just said, we don't need to change anything," said Councilman Jason Ruff."If we currently allow potbellied pigs and not swine, we don't have to amend the ordinance," he said."Everyone was happy in '91 when the judge ruled we were all under the understanding that potbellied pigs are not swine. The judge said it's not a farm animal and is raised as a pet. It's allowed under the ordinance but now we're working on having to define it. I have pigs," Wechsler said.In September 1991, Lehigh County District Justice Edward Hartman presided over a case about a Vietnamese potbellied pig named Penelope whose owner had been cited as keeping illegal livestock in the borough.In Hartman's ruling, Penelope was a pet in the eyes of the law and therefore could stay within the limits of Slatington.Gary Henry, owner of the Slatington Pet Center and Penelope the pig, had been cited by borough animal control officer Jeff Soldridge.According to the borough ordinance, cattle, goats, sheep, horses and swine cannot live within boroughs limits.Penelope was considered a farm animal by borough officials when Henry received his citation.Henry was granted a "not guilty" verdict by Hartman who said, "As it is, it (the pig) is just that, a pet in a pet store.""I talked to a lawyer who called (former office manager Duane) Dellecker. We had animal rights lawyers call and there was no problem," Wechsler said."Then it should be allowed under current ordinance," said Ruff."We could spend a lot of time redoing an ordinance that we weren't enforcing," Ruff said."Three years later we could be putting more money into amending for goats. I'm not against it, I'm just pointing it out," he said.OscarAt 11:33 p.m. July 21, Slatington police responded to a call from Hill Street resident Kathleen Williams about an unidentified potbellied pig on the loose.Police Chief David Rachman said the woman who had made the call was "crying hysterically" when police arrived at the scene and the callers allegedly had "red marks on their skin from bites, but the animal did not break the skin."According to the chief, "The pig chased the officers, grunting. After it went back to where it was originally standing, the pig chased an officer around the hedges again. At that point, the officer drew his weapon and shot the pig."The gray and white haired pig named Oscar was disposed of near the Lehigh River and Slatington airport because "no one knew who he belonged to," Rachman said.Lance Sherer owned the 100-pound pig and was not informed of the shooting until the following day when he contacted the police after realizing Oscar was missing."We feel bad for the owners, but we had to resolve the situation," Rachman said."It was being aggressive toward the people who called us, and the officers. It's a 100-pound pig that could do damage, and we had to mitigate that," he said.The ordinance will be drafted at next week's workshop meeting at borough hall at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 22. All meetings are open to the public.