Their pet should die with pignity.
A Staten Island family is fighting to keep its dying pet pig at home in its final days but the city wants the animal out – even if it means taking it by force.
The Gannone family said 15-year-old pygmy pig “Lucy” has lived in their home in Tottenville for years until a neighbor recently called 311 to report the portly pet to the Department of Health. The family is now facing thousands of dollars in fines for having an exotic pet as Lucy receives treatment at a local veterinary clinic.
“They’re not allowing her to stay here. After her treatment she has to get out of here,” Lori Ann Gannone told The Post.
Lucy likely only has days before it heads to the pig sty in the sky.
“I just want her to stay with us as a family as long as she can here. It’s not like it’s going to be for long,” Gannone said somberly.
A DOH official told the family that they must remove Lucy, and until they do, fines could range from the range of $300 up to $10,000, Gannone said. And if they don’t remove it themselves, the city may remove it by force.
But the family’s hams may be tied with options for the elderly pig which is mostly bedridden in its “pinky twilight” years — having trouble walking with its skin covered in possibly cancerous sores.
“I don’t understand. How is this a problem? My pig is sick. I’m renovating my home upstate. So, she needs to be here because she’s pretty much, you know, on her way out,” Gannone told The Post.
The Gannones — Lori Ann, her husband and two adult children — said that Lucy has been like one of their dogs or cats and only travels when the family visits a second home in Davenport.
“There’s no way of protecting her from the bears and coyotes right now,” Lor Ann Gannone said, adding that Lucy would be “bound to die” if brought upstate now. “If she was younger, yes, but now, no.”
“With the house up there, look what just happened with that squirrel and the raccoon,” Gannone said, referring to exotic pets P’Nut the squirrel and Fred the raccoon who were infamously taken and euthanized by agents from the New York State’s Department of Environmental Conservation last year.
“So if somebody sees her there in the condition that my outside is, they could call up there as well,” she said.
An anonymous tipster also called on June 6 to report that the family was abusing their dog, a completely unfounded claim that brought NYPD officers to their home.
On June 14, the DOH received an anonymous tip and opened the case Lucy and the Gannones — the second anonymous complaint the family received this month.
Lucy is a registered companion animal and has an ESA number meaning it can legally fly on a plane — qualifications Gannone was dismayed to hear did not exempt the pet from city Laws.
New York state law allows the ownership of pygmy pigs under certain conditions, including only allowing one pig per dwelling, but the pets are not legal in the five boroughs.
Lucy, though, is a beloved and famous member of her Staten Island neighborhood and the Gannones have delighted local children for years by dressing their cat, dogs, and Lucy in matching Halloween costumes.
“Last year was ‘witches.’ The year before that we did ‘fairies.’ The year before that they were ‘butterflies.’ The year before that they were ‘luau girls,’” Gannone reminisced.
The family did not speculate on who made the anonymous 311 complaint but said they could not believe that one of their neighbors could have made that call.
“My neighbors here love her. Their grandchildren come and take pictures. ‘Lori is the pig here?’ ‘Where’s the pig?’” she said, adding, “They’re willing to protest for her. They’re ready to rally.”
The Gannones now await a court hearing that will establish the severity of the fines and whether they will be able to keep Lucy in their home in her “pinky twilight.”
City officials did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.
A Change.org petition established on behalf of the Gannones and Lucy has garnered over 5,000 signatures and a GoFundMe that has raised over $3,000 at time of publication.