A bitter feud between neighbours over a pet pig has reignited, as the hog apparently smells like spare ribs during the heatwave. Michelle Repper was shocked to receive a complaint from a neighbour over the odour of her seven-year-old Juliana pot-bellied pig Jack earlier this month.
The 46-year-old adopted Jack seven years ago after her friends mistook him for a micro pig, and has raised the boar in her garden ever since. The latest complaint comes a year after Michelle received a letter from South Holland District Council outlining an odour and nuisance complaint over Jack. After council workers visited their home on two occasions, they found 'no issues' and Michelle considered the matter resolved, until now.
Vendetta against the pig
When the mum-of-three received another unexpected council complaint on Monday, July 13, regarding Jack's smell, she was stunned. It is unclear if it is the same neighbour who complained. Now teaching assistant Michelle believes there is a 'vendetta' against Jack, with the sole intention of banishing him from her home.
Michelle, from Spalding, Lincolnshire, said: "We've not heard anything at all [since the original complaint] then on Monday when I got home, we had received another letter. This time it was just about the smell. I thought 'it's starting again', it's just come out of the blue."
Owner defiant: 'He isn't going to go'
Michelle hit back: "Obviously we can't walk around with a net waiting for him to poo, it's not a constant smell. We're cleaning it up literally every other day, the smell goes away instantly. You might get a whiff when we're changing the hay or something, unless we're nose blind to it, but no one else says anything. He isn't noisy or smelly, he just sunbathes all the time."
"The only other thing I can think of about the smell is that obviously pigs don't sweat so we have to hose him down. And when we're hosing him down he does smell a little bit like pork spare ribs, but that lasts a couple of seconds and I don't think they'd be able to smell it. Other neighbours have walked past and said they can't smell anything."
Council to investigate
Michelle says the council is welcome to come over any time to take a sniff of Jack themselves, insisting the family has 'nothing to hide'. She said: "They want Jack gone, but he isn't going to go. There's no reason for him to go, he's clean, he's not mistreated. We would fight tooth and nail for him, it's just a waste of council money. I think they have a vendetta against him or they're just jealous because they want one."
South Holland District Council confirmed a complaint has been made in relation to odour and a letter has been sent to the owner. A spokesman said the council has a statutory duty to investigate and will be taking steps to monitor the situation.
