CHESAPEAKE, Va. - It's safe to say Brittany Kyanne swoons when she is around swines.
"Sit, Charlotte. Good girl - do you want another treat?" said Kyanne.
We meet the mini pig parent and hog enthusiast at Greenbrier Farms Wednesday, where she fed many mini pigs in their outdoor pens.
"They make great pets because they are very loyal and they are great companions. They are just like many other domesticated animals," she explained.
Kyanne has one of her own - Buttercup, a 5-year-old mini therapy pig - and heads up the website MiniPiginfo.com, a comprehensive mini pig forum that gives advice to mini pig parents all across the world.
For the past several weeks, she and other pig owners have been championing for an ordinance change in Virginia Beach to allow mini pigs as pets in most residential zones. Currently, Virginia Beach is the only city in Hampton Roads that doesn't allow them.
"One of my friends had been cited for having a pig within the city, so she went before the council and plead her case and asked if we could change this," said Kyanne. That was in June.
Since then, two Virginia Beach council members, Jessica Abbott and Aaron Rouse, have recently started a discussion with local mini pig owners and have drafted a resolution to possibly allow them.
That ordinance and all the stipulations around it can be seen here.
"I see some issues with some of the restrictions in their draft. For example, it must weigh less than 150 pounds... that's like telling someone your daughter can only weigh 99 pounds or less," she stated.
Kyanne and dozens of others plan to attend a town hall meeting hosted by the two council members Wednesday night at Kempsville Recreation Center. That meeting is from 6:30-8 p.m.
