Neighbors say too many pigs in yard

PAULSBORO, N.J. - May 8, 2012 (WPVI) -- Meet Florence Gruber, who just loves her pet pigs.

"They make you laugh and make your life full of joy," Gruber said.

She has so many, she's lost count.

But she estimates there are about 25 to 30 in all. Not on a farm, but in her small backyard in the quiet neighborhood in the 500 block of Lincoln Avenue in Paulsboro.

"They become like your children, they're so much smarter than dogs," Gruber said.

But after numerous complaints from some of her neighbors, a municipal judge has ruled that Gruber has 30 days to find a new home for her pigs citing an ordinance prohibiting farm animals on residential properties.

"We were extremely disappointed because we didn't think we were being unreasonable to expect to be able to have peaceful non-predatory prey animals," Gruber said.

Her neighbors, however, think she is being very unreasonable:

"It started out with one little piggy, it was cute and then it expanded into that many," neighbor Kathy Hunckler said, adding, "noise, smell, they get out, they run around the neighborhood."

Gruber does say that while she is considering an appeal, she is putting the young piglets up for adoption on the website http://www.cutiepigs.com.

But she has no plans on giving up her 5 or 6 adult pigs.

Action News asked Gruber: why doesn't she just move to a farm if she wants to keep so many pigs?

"I had them on a farm trying to keep the peace in the neighborhood while this was being sorted out, but one of them ate something toxic on the farm and had to be rushed to the vet," Gruber said.

So the clock is ticking for Florence Gruber.

She has 30 days to figure out what she is going to do about the pigs.

After that she will be fined $20 per pig per day retroactive to when the first complaints started coming in last fall.

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new jersey, animals, local/state, dann cuellar

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