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Dakota City Banishes Autistic Boy's Pet Pig

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An ordinance forbids livestock in town. The boy's mother says he's 'hurting deep inside.'

DesMoinesRegister
December 1, 2004

An autistic boy's pet pig has been evicted from Dakota City because the animal violates rules banning livestock in town.

The Vietnamese potbellied pig named Sid - who is potty-trained, can perform tricks and likes afternoon snoozes on the couch - moved to the country last week after the boy's parents lost a battle to keep the pet in town.

"He's hurting deep inside," Kim Dahlsten said of her son Zack, who also suffers from mental retardation and partial blindness. "I broke it to him gently, but he doesn't fully understand things."

The parents got the 18-inch-tall pig for their 11-year-old son in the spring. Doctors told the parents that the animal was therapeutic for Zack.

After a neighbor complained, the city took action under an ordinance that prohibits livestock, including porcine animals, within city limits.

"I've caught hell over why I'm picking on the poor kid," said Dakota City Mayor David Lee. "I'm not picking on the kid. I'm not picking on the pig. But the citizens who elected me want me to uphold the law, and the ordinance is the ordinance."

Zack's parents say city officials are being hypocritical. The same ordinance that banished Sid to the countryside also prohibits horses. Yet the mayor and Councilman Don Faltinson have horses within the city limits.

"Their pets are all right, but ours ain't," Kim Dahlsten said. "The whole thing is just plain sickening."

Humboldt County Sheriff Dean Kruger said the horses can legally stay put. The mayor, who has miniature horses, and the councilman comply with city zoning rules because the horses roam on industrial land, not in a residential zone, the sheriff said.

Lee and Faltinson said they made sure they were in compliance with the law many years ago.

According to court documents, the Dahlstens didn't seek permission for the pig until the sheriff and city officials found out about it.

In June, the City Council voted 4-1 to deny the Dahlstens' request to keep the pig. The council ordered them to remove the pig by July 1.

But the family kept Sid, and the matter ended up in court. Magistrate Court Judge Kurt Stoebe ruled on Nov. 16 that Sid violated the city's livestock ordinance.

"The court is well aware that the loss of this animal . . . will cause a hardship for the family and especially for the defendant's son," Stoebe wrote. "Yet, this court does not have the power to legislate. It can only interpret the law . . . and apply it to facts."

The family could appeal but won't because of the cost, Frank Dahlsten said Tuesday. Instead, the family plans to move to a more pig-friendly neighborhood out of state, he said.

For now, Sid is being kept at a friend's farm, Dahlsten said. Zack sorely misses him, and couldn't sleep the night of the eviction, Dahlsten said.

The mayor said he would welcome a pig in town, as long as it lived in an industrial neighborhood. "I don't want people to think we don't have a heart, because we do," Lee said. "We're not bad people up here."

By JENNIFER DUKES LEE
REGISTER STAFF WRITER

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