A Silver Springs woman has filed a $1,000 special use permit so that she may keep a pet pot-bellied pig as an emotional support animal at her property after one of her neighbors complained about the alleged odor from the animal.
Carilla Clark will present her request for a reasonable accommodation special use permit to the Marion County Board of County Commissioners on Tuesday, August 19.
According to a county staff report, Clark submitted an application to allow her pot-bellied pig, Leo, at her property along SE 176th Avenue in Silver Springs. The property is located in the Silver Springs Wood subdivision.
Leo weighs 75 pounds and is a Kunekune and pot-bellied pig mixed breed. Clark says that Leo serves a therapeutic role in her life. She says the pig has access to the indoors and outdoors and has a large kennel that it can stay in outside.
During a visit to the site by county staff, no “noticeable odors, waste, or noise
were observed.” Additionally, staff noted that animal waste is being properly collected and stored securely on the property.
In a letter written by Clark to the county, the homeowner disputed the alleged odor issue and indicated that she had taken “considerations for the supposed odors” by blocking off the back of the property so that Leo is not able to gain access “near the offended neighbor’s fence.” Clark says she also scoops and discards all of Leo’s animal waste on a daily basis.
Clark says that the neighbor never approached her with complaints in the past and that she would have “gladly” made special provisions to accommodate the neighbor in a “show of goodwill and compromise.”
Now, Clark has blocked off Leo’s access so that he cannot come within six feet of the neighbor’s fenced property.
Originating from Vietnam, pot-bellied pigs are generally smaller, have more clam dispositions, and are more amenable to training than regular pigs. According to the county, the animals are “typically trained similar to dogs.”
Clark’s request, which comes with a $1,000 fee, is one of several similar accommodations requested from the county over the past year.
In June, an Ocala woman was permitted to keep two emotional support goats on her property on the condition that she extend her fencing and expand a buffer after her neighbor complained of noise and living next to livestock in a residentially zoned area.
Last November, a homeowner’s request to keep two pot-bellied pigs at her property in east Marion County was also approved.
In July 2024, an Ocala couple received permission to keep their emotional support horses at their property. Just a couple weeks before that, another Marion County property owner was permitted to keep emotional support roosters at her home.
The Marion County Board of County Commissioners next meets on Tuesday, August 19, at 9 a.m. at the McPherson Governmental Complex, which is located at 601 SE 25th Avenue in Ocala.