{"id":29003,"date":"2025-07-01T05:08:22","date_gmt":"2025-07-01T05:08:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/29003\/"},"modified":"2025-07-01T05:08:22","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T05:08:22","slug":"family-rejoices-as-nyc-mayor-adams-decides-to-let-staten-island-pet-pig-stay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/29003\/","title":{"rendered":"Family rejoices as NYC Mayor Adams decides to let Staten Island pet pig stay"},"content":{"rendered":"

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 New York City brass made one Staten Island family happy as a ham on Monday.<\/p>\n

Lori Anne Gannone, of Tottenville, said her family got a call from First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro informing them Mayor Eric Adams would allow their 15-year-old pet pig, Lucy,<\/a> to stay in the family\u2019s Staten Island home as she receives medical care.<\/p>\n

The family had been in the mud with the New York City Health Department in recent weeks as the agency sought to enforce the ban on pet pigs in the five boroughs. Adams\u2019 decision effectively brought that effort to an end. <\/p>\n

\u201cI want to thank him,\u201d Gannone said of the mayor. \u201cLucy\u2019s so happy. This way she can just get healthy and get back to herself.\u201d<\/p>\n

After an anonymous neighbor filed a 311 complaint about Lucy, the Health Department informed the family earlier this month that they must remove Lucy from their home or face fines ranging from $3,000 to $18,000, according the family.<\/p>\n

Adams\u2019 decision came after a week\u2019s worth of public outcry that saw local elected officials, Councilmember Frank Morano and Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, join Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa Saturday in calling for the pig to be spared.<\/p>\n

Additionally, a Change.org petition<\/a> to save Lucy has garnered nearly 13,000 signatures as of Monday at 4 p.m., with #SaveLucy circulating on various social media platforms. <\/p>\n

\u201cHere\u2019s the squeal: Lucy the Pig is staying on Staten Island with her family to receive medical care. We won\u2019t be fining them or taking enforcement action at this time as it\u2019s clear Lucy is cared for and not causing any disruptions to the community,\u201d Adams wrote in announcing his decision on X.com. \u201cPig ownership is still against the law in New York City. Once Lucy is well again, her family will be returning her to their second home upstate. We welcome all tourists coming to NYC, but please keep your boar-ists at home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lucy is currently undergoing veterinary care on Staten Island and is prescribed various medicines for illnesses related to her advanced age.<\/p>\n

The Gannones told the Advance\/SILive.com that they have a second residence in upstate New York, where it is legal for Lucy to reside. However, that property is currently under renovation, which is why the pig is now living on Staten Island.<\/p>\n

A city Health Department spokesperson told the Advance\/SILive.com that the agency had sought the pig\u2019s removal, as the animals have been illegal pets in the five boroughs for decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn New York City, keeping a pig as a pet has been prohibited for at least 25 years. And for good reason \u2014 pigs need outside space and companionship of other pigs to thrive, they can become aggressive toward people, and pig manure is especially odorous and may be problematic for neighbors,\u201c stated the spokesperson. \u201cIn addition, there is no USDA-approved rabies vaccine for pigs. All of this makes it inappropriate to keep pigs as pets in New York City.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adams\u2019 pig pardon mirrored a decision made by former Mayor Bill de Blasio in 2017<\/a> when he allowed another Staten Island pig, Wilbur, to remain with his family.<\/p>\n

That pig ordeal also saw similar public outcry ahead of the previous mayor\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n

Gannone said that the family isn\u2019t sure of how much longer Lucy has left, but that they\u2019re working to set up a dog adoption fundraiser for the benefit of the more than 80 dogs found in a Brooklyn home last week following the death of the 73-year-old woman who lived there.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt could be Lucy who can help rescue 80 dogs that need a home,\u201d Gannone said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 New York City brass made one Staten Island family happy as a ham on…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":29004,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-29003","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-city","11":"tag-newyork","12":"tag-newyorkcity","13":"tag-ny","14":"tag-nyc","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-united-states-of-america","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","19":"tag-us","20":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114776251118795585","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29003\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}