Redland Homeowner Wins Pot Bellied Pig Fight

REDLAND (CBS4) – A South Florida woman has won her battle to keep her pet pot belly pigs on her Redland farm after a Miami-Dade Commissioner helped pass a new ordinance that allows pigs as pets on her property.

Earlier this year, Marcia Fuste was fined $500 by Miami-Dade County Code Enforcement for the three pot belly pigs that live on her one-acre farm she calls "Butterfly Ranch." She also has chickens, roosters, geese, dogs and cats.

She was told by the County that it wasn't legal to keep pigs on her property and told to get rid of the pigs because her property wasn't properly zoned.

Fuste vowed to fight for her pets, named Sophia, Chongi and Jibiri.

"It's like going to your home and taking away your dogs, your cats, or your parrot," said Fuste. "No, they're my babies. I raised them since they were born, since they were babies. Sophia slept in my bed with me when she was tiny.

Sophia isn't tiny anymore, but Fuste insists her pigs are intelligent, clean, and well-behaved.

"They're not beautiful but they are cute, you gotta admit," said Fuste. "I mean look at Sophia, look at that belly, look at that face, look at those cheeks, she's one big pork rind, she's beautiful."

That's the message Fuste hoped to get across to the County at a zoning hearing.

"I went prepared with all kinds of arguments but I didn't even have to go there because of what Commissioner Pepe Diaz did a couple of weeks ago," explained Fuste.

"To have a pig, to have two pigs, is part of having a farm, that's the way we looked at it at the county commission," explained Commissioner Diaz.

Diaz sponsored an ordinance which passed on July 8th. The ordinance made it legal to have two pigs per farm in the Snake-Biscayne Canal basin and the 8 ½ acres that surround the area including Fuste's Butterfly Ranch in the Redland.

At Tuesday's hearing, Fuste's case was dismissed and she went home to her ranch, pet pigs and all. She also doesn't have to pay the fine.

"Today we have a happy ending to a story that wasn't so happy," said Commissioner Diaz.

"This is their home and nobody's going to take them from me," said Fuste.

The ordinance does state that only two pigs are allowed per farm, therefore, Fuste said she found a loving home for Jibiri and kept Sophia and Chongi.