Pig-sitter accused of abuse

A Winona woman wants charges pressed against an acquaintance for making her pig fat. Michelle Schmitz said her pot-bellied pig, Alaina Templeton, weighed 50 pounds last spring when Schmitz left her with a co-worker. Nine months later, the pig was 150 pounds. It took veterinarians 4 1/2 hours to surgically remove the obese pig’s collar. Now the one-eyed Alaina is the subject of a police investigation into whether her pig-sitter abused her by neglecting and over-feeding her. Schmitz, 22, said she cried for three days after she discovered her pet’s weight problem. “That pig is my life,” she said. Schmitz even has a tattoo of Alaina’s name. “Everyone in Winona knows I have this pig.”