An anonymous Kitchener, Ont. resident is fighting city hall for the right keep a 100-pound pig inside a basement apartment because of a disability.

A staff report from the City of Kitchener’s finance and corporate services department calls the pig a “service therapy animal,” but it’s unclear whether the pig is a service animal or support animal.

Ontario’s guidelines allow pigs to work as service animals, but local bylaws say caring for one in a residential area is illegal.

“They would not be one of the permitted animals that would be allowed in a residential zone,” Gloria MacNeil, Kitchener's director of bylaw enforcement, told CTV Kitchener. “They would only be permitted in agriculturally zoned properties.”

In Ontario, all you need is a doctor’s note to have a service animal.

Chapter 408 of the City of Kitchener Municipal Code prohibits residents from keeping animals beyond a list of 13 common house pet species.

The owner filed a request for exemption with municipal authorities, and submitted a doctor’s note after the service pig’s illegal presence was brought to the attention of the local humane society.

“The pig is well looked after,” admits Kitchener-Waterloo Humane Society Director Jack Kinch.

A staff report by the City of Kitchener’s finance and corporate services department acknowledges that no complaints from the public have been received, and the pig is being kept in a “clean and healthy condition” and is “primarily contained within the residence and abutting fenced backyard.”

“The City has received a letter from a member of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario confirming that they believe the pig meets criteria as a service therapy animal to aid in the owner’s disability,” says the report.

“The doctor confirmed that the pig may serve its function in the owner’s residence and does not need to travel with the owner in public.”

Assistant City Solicitor Jennifer Sheryer issued a list of 11 recommendations that would allow the owner to retain custody of the pig within the city. Sheryer says the pig may not “run at large” or enter public buildings or private property without the consent of the owner. The pig cannot create a nuisance or cause “bothersome smells or noises.”

Any bylaw exemption would only apply to the currently owned pig, not one acquired by the owner in the event of the pig’s death.