Arizona family wins the right to keep "comfort pig"

CHANDLER, Ariz., Nov. 20 (UPI) -- After three months of litigation, an Arizona family was allowed to keep a pot-bellied pig on the grounds that it helps their 9-year-old son, who has Asperger's.

In August the Gil family was told that they would have to get rid of Maggie, their 3-year-old Vietnamese pot-bellied pig, because their home was not properly zoned to house livestock. On Nov. 17 a court granted the family special permission to keep Maggie as a pet because the pig provides aid to their son Julian, who has been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome.

The City of Chandler stated that Maggie's presence "is necessary to afford the minor child an equal opportunity to use and enjoy the residence."

Gil's parents said that Maggie helps Julian express his feelings and interact with other children at school.

"Without her I would be somewhere not happy, probably in a corner," Julian told azcentral.com. "She's the only one that I pretty much have."

The family's lawyer John Schill was able to argue that the animal should be allowed to stay in the family's home under the Fair Housing Act because it provides Gil with emotional support.

"It was very good news to say. 'Hey, we won. Maggie gets to stay with Julian,' because there was a point in time when they first contacted me that I didn't know if we could win this case. I didn't know if Maggie was going to be able to stay with Julian," he told Tuscon News Now.