Pig stored as pet in quiet cul-de-sac is ‘ruining neighbours’ lives’
- Lyn was saved as a young piglet but residents say she attracts vermin and flies
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A rescue pig saved from death is at the centre of a bitter row over claims that the animal is ruining the lives of neighbours.
Residents have complained about Lyn the pig’s ‘vile’ stench, with its next door neighbours saying the pet’s dung has backed up into their water system, preventing them from having showers and washing clothes.
She was rescued by animal lover John Heathcote as a young piglet but is now the subject of opposition from neighbours who say she attracts flies and vermin.
Locals in a quiet cul-de-sac in Feltwell, Norfolk have also voiced concerns about the livestock’s welfare, claiming it’s being kept in poor conditions and should be moved to a proper home on a farm.
John’s mother Karen said: ‘My son found it it the road – it was in a very poor state and had obviously escaped from a farm. We called an emergency vet who suggested that the piglet was probably past saving and should be put down.
‘But we didn’t want to do that so I brought it home and built a little shelter for her in our back garden. It has been there ever since and no-one has ever complained until now. She is well-looked after and cared for.’
Pictured: Lyn the Pig was ‘saved from death’ by a family, but is now at the centre of a bitter row in the neighbourhood
But some residents have complained that the pig is being kept in poor conditions and say it should be relocated to a proper farm
Pictured: Lyn is often covered by a large blue tarpaulin. Nearby residents have said the animal should have more space, with RSPCA guidelines recommending that pigs have at least 36 square metres to roam around in
But leading the campaign to get the pig moved is next door-neighbour Michaela Baxter.
She said that dung and straw had backed up into her home’s sewage system, meaning she wasn’t able to bathe her young children or wash her clothes.
The pink animal was pictured in a tight enclosure in a section of her nextdoor neighbour’s garden, and is regularly covered by a large blue tarpaulin.
Ms Baxter told MailOnline that when she bought her property four years ago, she was assured by its previous owners that they had been told the pig would be relocated, but the neighbours have continued to keep the pet.
She said: ‘We are direct neighbours with a family that is not hygienic – they have a large pink pig in the back garden right by the back door.
‘The smell is vile and the flies in summer are like on a farm. We have reported this to the environmental health and the RSPCA with no positive result.’
Ms Baxter, a consultant and business owner, has lived on Munsons Place since 2020 with her three young children and partner Anthony Blackman.
She added: ‘We have also experienced rats in the past – even in our loft. Now we have a blocked sewer because of the straw that is put down it and it took Anglian Water five days to sort it out.
‘I have three children under the age of five. I couldn’t bathe them. I had to wash pots with a bucket and empty them into the garden. I couldn’t do any [clothes] washing. I couldn’t put anything down the drains because it was coming back up.’
As well as blocked drains, she believes the unusual pet is encouraging vermin, and has had to call in exterminators to rid her loft of rats on several occasions, a problem that the pig owners told her they have to deal with as well.
She said: ‘I didn’t sleep for weeks. My partner kept saying I was hearing things. We went to our neighbours and they said ‘we know, we just put traps up’.
When she enquired to her neighbour about why her drains were blocked, she found straw from the pig’s coop was dropping down a manhole.
But despite assurances the problem had been fixed, the blockage had been left for so long it had already backed into Ms Baxter’s system.
She said: ‘It was not clear because it had backed up so much that it was in our area.’
‘The situation has become unbearable and poses a serious health risk for all residents nearby. It is time for action to be taken to remove this pig from our residential area for good.
‘The poor animal has been alone for years in an area of a size you wouldn’t keep a dog in. It doesn’t even see day light as its home is completely covered with a tarpaulin sheet.’
Anne Tapping who signed the petition calling for the pig to be moved said: ‘I am concerned because a small garden is not a suitable home for a large pig and it is causing a public nuisance for neighbours through smell, flies and vermin.’
Another neighbour who did not want to named said: ‘I don’t know what all the fuss is about – we never see the pig and only occasionally hear it. What the family did to save it from certain death is a good thing.’
But another resident in the quiet cul-de-sac said: ‘It doesn’t seem right to keep such a large pig cooped up in a back garden. If it is being kept as a pet it should have more freedom.’
But Lyn’s owner Mr Heathcote has hit back at critics saying the the rescued pig was not causing a nuisance and dismissing his neighbours as ‘not country people’ who ‘don’t understand the countryside’.
He said:’We have had the environmental health people round and they are quite happy. Other people on this estate have dogs – including the woman next door who is complaining – which can be a bloody nuisance. And a lot of our neighbours are very happy about the pig which we call Lyn – they even bring round left-over food for her to eat.
‘She has a lot of health problems which are all being dealt with by a vet. As far as the muck is concerned, we use it on the vegetables on our allotment just as people have always have done.’
The porcine pet is being kept in a back garden at a home on a quiet cul-de-sac in Feltwell, Norfolk
Nextdoor neighbour Michaela Baxter says pig dung and straw were so bad that it backed into her drainage system and left her family without clean water to shower or wash clothes in
Although it’s not strictly forbidden to keep pigs as pets, under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, they must be given a ‘proper diet’ and somewhere ‘suitable’ to live. They are also entitled to ‘express their normal behaviour’.
The RSPCA recommends that porcine pets are given a minimum of 36 square metres of space to roam around in, including areas for ‘dunging, exploring and sleeping’.
It’s unlikely the lone pig’s owners are complying with the regulations given its restricted surroundings.
Ms Baxter thinks the pig’s conditions are awful. ‘They’re definitely not meant to be cooped up all by themselves’, she said.
A spokesperson for West Norfolk borough council said: ‘We investigated this case in 2022 where a complaint was received about vermin and a visit was conducted which showed there were no issues with vermin and the husbandry for the pig was suitable and they were treating for prevention of vermin adequately. The complainant was updated as such.
‘We have received a further complaint this week and will be investigating in the next 14 days to ensure that husbandry for the pig and for keeping the land free from vermin is adequate.’
