Nicolle Burrell with Ruby, her pet pot-bellied pig

Fort Mill council members voted unanimously Monday to change town ordinances to prohibit all future swine, but the change won’t impact a pot-bellied pig name Ruby.

In November, Nicolle Burrell had petitioned the town council to change an ordinance to let her keep a pot-bellied pig as her family pet. She said she has had her “pet mini pig” for almost four years at her home on Myers Street without any issues from her neighbors.

Nicolle Burrell poses with Ruby

But then she received a letter from code enforcement claiming a violation of a town ordinance making it unlawful “for any person to keep or maintain any hog, chicken or other fowl within the town.”

Mayor Savage said town officials were simply responding to a citizen complaint, assuring Burrell that they do not go house to house looking for violations. “We didn’t single you out for any reason,” the mayor said last year.

The council studied the issue decided to amend the Town’s Code of Ordinances. Burrell had argued that that the town’s ordinance referring to “hogs” was written in 1984 before pot-bellied pigs were introduced into this country.

The change will update the regulations relating to the keeping of swine in the Town of Fort Mill. The ordinance requires two readings, and Council will hear the second reading during its next meeting, said Chris Sardelli, the town’s Public Relations Manager.

“The ordinance was written so as not to apply to Ruby and she would be able to stay with her owner,” Sardelli said. “After tonight’s vote, Town staff is planning to contact Ms. Burrell tomorrow to let her know the Town ordinance will not affect Ruby.”

Contacted at home Monday, Burrell said she was ecstatic: “I am so thrilled. I am outside with her right now and she is oinking because she is thrilled.”

Greg "Ricky Bobby" Rickabaugh has lived in the Fort Mill and York County community since 2006. He has covered the area while a reporter for The Charlotte Observer and a freelance writer for The Fort Mill...