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Mary Josephine Beesecker, 53, appeared Friday in Winona County District Court with her attorney Rich McCluer. McCluer asked the court to give him about three weeks to submit a written argument challenging whether the situation warranted charges.
Judge Mary Leahy granted the request and ordered a simultaneous written argument from the prosecutor, Assistant Winona County Attorney Kevin O’Laughlin.
Their briefs will be due by July 7, when Leahy will take the case under advisement, she said.
The now-famous potbelly pig in question, Alaina Templeton, gained attention last fall when stories of her weight gain traveled the globe. Her owner, Michelle Schmitz, hired Beesecker, her co-worker, in February 2007 to look after the 50-pound pet while she endured incapacitating ankle surgery.
When Schmitz was well enough to get out of bed in April, Beesecker refused to return Schmitz’s phone calls and made excuses not to let her recover Alaina, Schmitz said.
Fed up with the run-around, Schmitz drove to Witoka, Minn., in October and found Alaina had gained 100 pounds on Beesecker’s farm. Alaina’s neck grew around her collar and it needed to be surgically removed by a veterinarian.
McCluer said Beesecker has lived on a farm her entire life and loves animals. It was never her intent to allow Alaina to get hurt, he said. But now she is identified “worldwide” as someone who mistreats animals, he said. “She’s had a lot of tears over this situation.”
McCluer said Beesecker and her husband often checked the pig’s elastic collar by slipping two fingers between it and the pig’s neck. Had they known the collar would eventually get embedded in the pig’s jowls, they would have done something about it, he said.
The question is whether that constitutes willful neglect. If not, the case can’t move forward, McCluer said.
Alaina has since lost about half her weight and has a lot better mobility but is more skittish around people, Schmitz said.
“She’s not the same pig,” she said. “She’s kind of traumatized.”
Contact Kevin Behr at (507) 453-3524 or at kbehr@winonadailynews.com.
