Family’s not-so-little piggy didn’t stay home

WAILUKU - The fate of "Piggy" was sealed.

He was going to be the main course in a holiday dinner. But then the 300-pound pig was stolen five days before Thanksgiving from his pen on a farm off Piihana Road in Wailuku.

"Has our community gotten so corrupted that respect for one another's property has become a word long lost and forgotten?" asked Pooui Rano, who had been feeding and caring for her father's pig. Her dad, Lawrence Makuakane, has been on the Mainland, receiving medical treatment.

The theft was discovered Nov. 23, when Rano and her children went to feed Piggy in the early afternoon after returning from church.

Rano, a Waiehu Hawaiian Homes resident, said her six children, who range from a year old to 13, were "very upset" because they had grown attached to the pig they've fed and watered nearly every day.

"They were crying, saying, 'Mom, what's going on? Why do people do this?' "

Family members stood around the pen and prayed. Within hours, a neighbor reported she believed she knew who had taken the pig. Through the community grapevine, a suspect was identified and later arrested by police, according to Rano.

Police said that on Wednesday there was an arrest in the case but the 28-year-old suspect was released pending further investigation. Because of the continuing investigation, police said they could not release information on the incident, which is classified as theft of livestock.

With recent changes in state law, theft of livestock is a felony offense.

Rano said the suspect claimed the hefty pig had just been "walking on the side of the road." But that wasn't likely because there was no damage or opening to the fence that enclosed the pig's pen, Rano said.

But the thief was arrogant enough to take the pig to "a very public place," a softball game on Saturday night, she said.

"That's what caused him to get caught," she said. "There was a lot of people who saw."

Piggy was not recovered. He was slaughtered before he could be recovered by the police. Rano estimated his value at around $700.

Rano said Piggy is not the first family pig to be stolen from the half-acre property. Two others were taken, but the family "let it go" without reporting the losses. Two other pigs remain. Those weigh 300 and 200 pounds, respectively.

But Piggy won't be easily forgotten.

"He was tame," Rano said. "You pet him and feed him. Kids would jump in there to clean out his pen, feed him and take care of him. You get to know him. It gets personal."

Rano said that if the thief was simply hungry, all he needed to do was ask for help.

"If you want something, you don't have to steal, just ask," she said. "We're a community. We can share.

"We had just hoped we would have our pig for Thanksgiving or Christmas," she said. "We don't live on food stamps. We're self-sufficient. We budget and save like everyone else."

Staff Writer Melissa Tanji contributed to this story.

Brian Perry can be reached at citydesk@mauinews.com.