A Pet Trust for Your Pet Pig?
I remember reading your post that Indiana has a Statutory Pet Trust. If I have a pet other than a dog or cat, can I provide for them as well?
Doug Munster, Indiana
Doug, thanks for being a follower … we wrote here that Indiana is one of the majority of states that has a Statutory Pet trust.
It is hard to define, “what constitutes a pet.”
Generally, Indiana Code § 30-4-2-18, simply provides that;
(a) A trust may be created to provide for the care of an animal alive during the settlor's lifetime.
There is no specific definition of “an animal” in the Statute.
However, in 1994, the city of Anderson brought a suit against Virginia Barnes and Jan Swearingen to stop the women from keeping and maintaining Swearingen's pet Vietnamese pot-belly pig, at their residence within the city limits. Barnes v. City of Anderson, Indiana 642 N.E.2d 1004 (Ind.App. 2 Dist. 1994)
At the trial, the women offered evidence that the Vietnamese pot-belly pig has been in use as an exotic pet in the United States since 1985. Swearingen told the court that she kept the pig in her home and backyard and walked the pig with a leash. Her pet weighed between 125 and 150 pounds and ate mini pig chow, dog food and drank water. The pig (named Sassy) also had her own food bowl and water dish and used a litter box.
Not persuaded, the trial court granted an injunction against the action, in essence, stating that the women were in violation of a City Ordinance by keeping livestock in a residential district.
On appeal, the Court disagreed, and stated in part:
"The term "domestic animal" is not defined in the Zoning Code; however, a definition is contained in the Anderson Animal Control Ordinance at § 91.01, which classifies pigs and other animals such as dogs, cats, and hamsters, as domestic animals. Neither party denies that Sassy is a domestic animal kept as a pet…
"The definition specifies that "domestic animals kept for farm purposes, especially those marketable animals" are livestock. Cattle, horses, sheep, goats, and ponies, the animals named in the definition as examples, are all animals used for farm purposes. As explained above, dogs, cats, and hamsters all fall under the definition of domestic animal. If the phrase "farm purposes" is not read to modify the word "raising" in the ordinance, then dogs, cats, and hamsters are livestock and are prohibited from residential districts in Anderson. The Code does not reconcile this dilemma by expressly designating the domestic animals excluded from the definition of livestock. We, thus, conclude the policy of the ordinance to be the exclusion of farming activities in the city…
"Although Sassy is a pig, and, in ordinary experience, pigs are farm animals, the parties agree that Sassy is a pet… Swearingen does not use Sassy for farm purposes and Swearingen is not planning to breed and market the pig. The wording of the zoning ordinance illustrates that the ordinance's drafters were contemplating farm animals when they enacted the legislation, not pets. The policy behind the ordinance of preventing farming in residential districts will not be furthered by the removal of Sassy…
"The zoning ordinance involved in this case, however, does not apply to the facts before us."
So, at least in this case, even a pot bellied pig can be a pet in the eyes of the Indiana law.
Plan for your pet, even if it is a Vietnamese pot-belly pig.
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