MULGRAVE – The ongoing saga of farm animals within Mulgrave town limits may not quite have nine lives, but it surfaced once again with the return of pigs to one resident’s property along Main St., prompting another round of complaints from residents.
Mayor Ron Chisholm said starting in late spring, the town started receiving complaints from neighbours that a handful of pigs had returned to a Main St. property. The animals, Chisholm said, were wandering out onto the street and causing a disturbance.
“Residents complained that the smell is ungodly,” Chisholm said.
Mulgrave council has been receiving complaints about farm animals in town for at least a decade. In 2022, council amended the town’s agricultural bylaw to limit chicken possession to 12 per property in certain zones, while banning farm animals outright, including pigs.
In 2024, following another round of complaints from residents, the town implemented a fine system, including a $250 fine for a first offence and $500 for subsequent offences. According to Chisholm, at that point the resident got rid of the pigs and complied with the chicken limit.
Chisholm said since the pigs returned this year, the town has sent the resident a registered letter asking her to remove the animals. So far, the animals still remain.
The town is waiting for approval from the Department of Justice before issuing a summary offence ticket, a process Chisholm said is taking longer than he would like. At the town’s Sept. 21 council meeting, councillor Helen Michel asked if the office had received any indication of the status of this approval, but none had been received.
Mulgrave has also been trying to get a bylaw enforcement officer involved with the issue. But Chisholm said the town is still waiting on a response from Nova Scotia’s municipal affairs department before it can move forward.
“There’s a lot of paperwork, a lot of bureaucracy that has to go into that. It’s frustrating.”
