Harley's become a bit too neighbourly

Alex Hickey
Waikoau man Jim Bothwell's family pet, Harley the Hog, faces the chop - or the bacon slicer - because it has fallen foul of a council bylaw.
The six month old Captain Cooker is kept in a paddock, alongside a sheep, some chooks and the family dogs, at the back of his log cabin in the tiny northern Hawke's Bay rural settlement.
However because the paddock is not big enough, Harley will have to find a new home - or face a more grisly fate.
According to a Hastings District Council bylaw, the pig is not allowed to be at large within 50 metres of any dwelling or boundary, including the road.
"My main concern is to get Harley a new home as we have been given no option but to get rid of it," Mr Bothwell said yesterday.
A neighbour had complained to the council that the pig was too close to his property, he said.
A health inspector and a council came up inspected the paddock and confirmed that Harley did not measure up in the neighbourly stakes.
His three daughters were "devastated," and the eldest, Anita, 11, was particularly attached to the pet porker.
"She'll be very sad to see the pig go," Mr Bothwell said. The pig had been rescued in the boundary stream area by a "DOC man" who named it and gave it to him to look after.
It would be quite ironic if the pig now had to be killed as a result of a council bylaw, he said.
The neighbour who made the complaint to Hastings District Council, Peter Stone, said he was not being vindictive by contacting the authorities.
His concern was for his children's health as he was fearful that the families water supply could be contaminated by the pig.
The household relied on rainwater stored in a tank in the garden for its water supply and he believed the pig was too close for comfort.
Mr Bothwell's wife Sharon said council staff had told her it was a bylaw and if someone complained then it had to be enforced. Others in the area should know their ability to keep pigs might be under threat, she said.
"We don't keep pigs in order to upset the neighbour."
In fact there was no way the neighbour could even see the pig from his property.
However she had no gripe with the council.
"They are only doing their job. Its the rules that are a bit banal."