Friday, September 15, 2000
Please don't abuse the pigs
Citizens asked to be watchful
By Owen Findsen
The Cincinnati Enquirer
“I got him yesterday,” said Jinny Fisher of Anderson Township.
She heard about the theft of “Pigskin,” the Bengals pig, and was pleased she had captured it on film before the heist.
Pigskin was recovered and, after a brief stay in the Pig Spa on Thursday, is back in place in front of the Albert B. Sabin Cincinnati Convention Center downtown.
Ms. Fisher, who has photographed more than 200 of the pigs in the Big Pig Gig, is resigned to the fact that pigs are being damaged and stolen.
“Somebody's always going to do something they shouldn't do,” she said.
Pigskin is the third pig to be stolen during the six-month public art project. Dozens of others have been damaged by vandals. This weekend during Oktoberfest Zinzinnati, when 500,000 people are expected downtown, what will be done to protect the pigs?
“We will have volunteer pig patrols,” said Betsy Neyer, Big Pig Gig marketing director. “The police will be watching, as they have been at all special events, and it's up to the community to help us. If you see somebody climbing on a pig, jumping on a pig, riding a pig, kissing a pig, remind them that this is art.”
Melody Sawyer Richardson, Big Pig Gig co-chairwoman, has watched people damage pigs.
“I saw a kid kicking "Alan Greenspam' while his parents watched,” she said. “I told them that there was a "Do Not Touch' sign. I said that this is a community project and if they damage a pig they're damaging everybody else's right to enjoy the pigs. They looked shocked.”
“We have done private security, quietly and randomly, to watch the pigs,” Ms. Neyer added. “We have asked people to ... report (vandalism) to the police, which is what happened in this (Pigskin) instance.”
Pig damage is far more common than pig theft. Since the second week in July, when the Pig Spa opened, three or four have been brought in for repair each week, Ms. Neyer said.
“Unfortunately, we can't estimate the cost of damage,” Ms. Neyer said, “because we won't know the value of the pigs until they go to auction in November. The cost is not so much in dollars and cents as it is a lost enthusiasm. The artists get so disheartened when something like this happens. The community gets upset.”
Nan Given, of Pierce Township, cupped her hands to the window of the Pig Spa on Seventh Street on Thursday, trying to catch a glimpse of the injured pigs.
“I check to see if there are any pigs in here that I haven't photographed. I have pictures of 368 of them so far.”
Ms. Given cannot ignore a damaged pig. “I've gone to the Big Pig Gig Web site (www.bigpiggig.com) and reported damage I've found.”
The two other stolen pigs are back in place as well: Leslie Shiel's Topigary, taken from Piatt Park in early June and recovered 10 days later; and Amanda Hogan's Dandelion Swine, swiped from Eden Park Sept. 6 and returned a day later.
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