WINONA, Minn. – A Minnesota pet sitter accused of animal abuse for letting a potbellied pig triple its weight in less than a year has been sentenced to a year on probation and ordered to pay veterinary bills that could exceed $1,000.
The pig, named Alaina Templeton, ballooned from her normal 50 pounds to 150 pounds in just nine months. Its collar became embedded in its neck and had to be removed surgically.
The portly porker even was the subject of joke on "Saturday Night Live."
Fifty-three-year-old Mary Beesecker of Houston, Minn., entered an Alford plea Monday to one count of animal cruelty, meaning she admits no wrongdoing but acknowledges she'd likely be convicted.
Beesecker maintained Monday she took good care of Alaina.
The 6-year-old pig died last November, cause unknown.
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