'Rescued' Delta Pigs Taken Back By Owner Seized By Animal Control

ARNOLD (CBS13) — The pigs removed from a Delta island by an animal rights group last week could be on the move again.

This time Calaveras County animal control officers are seizing the pigs.

"It's a circus," pig owner Roger Stevenson said. "It's a three-ring circus."

It's a story that has turned hog wild.

Calaveras County Animal Control officers arrived to take the pigs from Roger Stevenson's Arnold home after calls from Stevenson's neighbors that he allowed his pigs to go free. The pigs ended up in front yards and near a major highway.

Stevenson was already in a dispute with animal rights group Farm Sanctuary. Members of the group arrived at Stevenson's home as animal control officers were on scene.

One member exchanged words with CBS13 reporter Steve Large.

"We don't have anything to say," the Farm Sanctuary member said from inside a vehicle.

They aren't talking now, but a week ago Farm Sanctuary recorded video, and released it to news crews showing their so-called island pig rescue.

They delivered the pigs to UC Davis Animal Hospital, concerned the pigs were abandoned and starving. A sheriff ordered the hospital to deliver the pigs back to Stevenson at his Calaveras home.

Only, Stevenson's decision to let the pigs run free near his home now has his pig ownership in jeopardy again.

"Well, we told him that we will take the pigs and that he can have a hearing to get those pigs back," animal control officer Henning Schreiber said.

Pigs moved from an island. Right into a circus-like spectacle.