Detroit woman fumes over neighbor's 650-pound therapy pig

DETROIT (WJBK) - An unusual pet in southwest Detroit has neighbors seeing red.

"You hear the noises, I am like oh my God, they have a pig," said Ariana Delaluz.

Not just any pig, a 650-pound hog named Penny.

"Too big for the house so I built it a pit out back," said Larry Goines II. "It has it's own bed own trough, it doesn't bother anybody."

Not according to Delaluz, who happens to live next door on Lansing Street. She says the stench is unbearable. 

She says the pig pen is a filthy eyesore along with her neighbor's backyard, and the pig continues to dig holes and nose under the fence scaring her 3-year-old son.

"I am upset with the city, upset with neighbors," she said. "I am at ends, I don't know what else to do."

After months living next to the swine, and getting the runaround from the city, Delaluz reached out to FOX 2.

Farm animals aren't allowed in the City of Detroit, but Goines says they are if they're therapy animals. He told us they're in the middle of the paperwork to make Penny a therapy animal for his wife, who was diagnosed with PTSD. 

Detroit Animal Control came out, and a city spokesperson told FOX 2 there is no such designation for a pig. And even if the state approved it as a comfort pig - the Goines family would only be allowed to take it to places where therapy animals are allowed - and it would be pretty tough to cart around a 650 lb. pig.

Since it's illegal to have livestock in the city, Animal Control has asked the homeowner to find an appropriate home for the pig. We're told that's expected to happen by the end of the week or officers will do it for them.

With the temperatures heating up, Penny's removal from her backyard pen couldn't come fast enough for Delaluz and her family.

"I want this pig gone."