The Woodside Planning Commission, on a 3-1-1 vote, declined June 7 to take up the question of whether the pig scramble — kids chasing and capturing pigs at the July Fourth junior rodeo — is a permitted activity under the use permit granted to the rodeo’s host, the Mounted Patrol of San Mateo County.
Planning Director Jackie Young recommended that the commission not review the matter. She noted that the permit does not define what is or is not allowed at the rodeo, and that the pig scramble has a long history in the rodeo.
And, she added, even though pig scrambles are not included among the activities sanctioned by the regional rodeo association, it is the Mounted Patrol that holds the use permit, not the rodeo association.
A local group of residents called “Committee for a Humane Woodside” will not appeal the commission’s decision, committee member Belle Stafford told the Almanac. Committee members claim that it’s cruel to the dozen or so small pigs to be chased around an arena by 50 to 75 children.
Voting to not schedule the topic for a future discussion were commissioners Marilyn Voelke, Elizabeth L. Hobson and Grant Huberty. Commissioner Aydan Kutay, who proposed that the commission consider the question because the event was not specifically mentioned in the Mounted Patrol’s permit, abstained. Commissioner Kurt C. Calia opposed the resolution.
Views on pig scramble
The three commissioners voting in the majority alluded to the fact that the pig scramble is not illegal and that the Mounted Patrol is not violating its conditional use permit by hosting the event. However, no one in the majority expressed support for the pig scramble.
Ms. Voelke told Patrol Captain Victor Aenlle that she objected to the lessons the event embodies and forbade her kids from attending after one visit to the rodeo.
Ms. Hobson contested the idea that pigs are a part of rodeo culture. “Pigs are on farms, not ranches,” she said. She recommended a community dog show as an alternative.
Mr. Huberty said that while he does not like the idea of a pig scramble, he does not see grounds for review of the permit.
The Town Council in March reached a similar conclusion to take no action, but recommended that the event’s opponents take their complaints to San Mateo County or the state Legislature.
Commissioner Calia, in explaining his opposition, noted that of the many discussions about the pig scramble, the evening’s discussion was the first to raise the question of whether the Patrol’s permit allowed a pig scramble at all.
Ms. Kutay commented that the language in the permit did not specifically exclude a pig scramble and that that ambiguity worked against the idea of further examination of the permit by the commission.
Members of the Committee for a Humane Woodside will be at the rodeo this year to protest the event, Ms. Stafford said. Three Woodside residents and one former resident form the group’s core.
The Mounted Patrol, through its current captain Victor Aenlle, said the rodeo is not in violation of the Patrol’s permit and described the continuing efforts to end the pig scramble as a “witch hunt.”
At one point, Mr. Aenlle alluded to possible changes. “To be honest with you,” he said, “there may be a day when … we choose to maybe end the pig scramble, but not this way. Not like this, not under this pressure.”
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