PORT ORCHARD, Wash. — A Port Orchard couple who arrived home last month to find their pet pigs had been wrongfully slaughtered by a mobile butcher business is taking legal action against the business, according to a new complaint filed in Kitsap County Superior Court.
On May 1, the employees of the business Farmer George Meats, a mobile slaughter service based in Port Orchard, went to the wrong address and killed the wrong pigs, according to the documents.
"They were never meant to be slaughtered. They were meant to be pets," Natalie Gray, the owner of the pigs, previously told KING 5. The complaint is filed on behalf of Gray and her husband, Nathan.
Betty and Patty were "beloved" 2-year-old Kunekune pigs, a breed commonly domesticated that can live up to 20 years.
The complaint alleges that two men working for Farmer George Meats arrived at the Grays’ Port Orchard home around 1:30 p.m. last month “without permission or knowledge of the Grays.”
It claims the men broke into a fenced pen containing the pigs Betty and Patty, along with other animals owned by the Gray family. The men then reportedly shot and killed both pigs.
Shortly after the killings, Natalie and Nathan Gray arrived home after receiving a security camera alert about the box truck on their property. They were both in shock at the scene. Betty and Patty's throats had been slit and the men were preparing to butcher them, documents state.
Amid the Grays' confusion and shock, the two men reportedly offered to butcher the pigs for free for the family.
The employees had been sent to another butcher client who lived nearby but went to the wrong address. The Grays’ property displays their house number on their gate, on the house and on their mailbox, documents state.
Though one of the employees reportedly told the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office that he did "everything" and that the second employee was there to assist him, both are named in the complaint as it “remains unclear who pulled the trigger as to Betty and Patty.”
The complaint claims the men made no efforts to confirm the location of the butcher client and caused severe emotional distress to the Gray family, along with trespassing on their property.
When reached by phone for comment, an owner of Farmer George Meats said the entire incident was a "mistake" and there was "no maliciousness."
"Bottom line is, if somebody is going to come on your property with a firearm and kill your animal, you should be home," Nathan Gray previously told KING 5.
The couple said they believe if more were done to ensure the company went to the correct address, Patty and Betty would still be alive.
