Westport farm quarantined after long-dead pig found

A state veterinarian has ordered a quarantine on a Westport farm after the discovery of one dead pig (a sow) and concerns that an unknown number of other pigs (the tally varies wildly) may have fed on the rotting and unburied carcass.

The situation involves property at 217 Sodom Road (but also listed variously as 217 , 212 and 221 Sodom Road just north of the intersection of Charlotte White Road that has long been home to Martin Cheese Company.

Problems came to light, selectmen were told late last week, after a state inspector from the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR) went to 217 Sodom Road for what was described as a follow-up inspection (follow-up to what was not specified). She reported finding a “significant number of pigs” including one that had been dead for awhile.

The inspector contacted Westport Animal Control Officer Donna Lambert and asked her to conduct an animal inspection. Ms. Lambert did so but reported that she was refused entry by Alan Martin, a member of the family that owns the farm. Officials say that Mr. Martin told her that there are only 15 pigs there including two boars and five sows.

After serving the state quarantine order, Ms. Lambert then informed the Board of Health since the BOH license for the farm allows only four pigs.

BOH inspector Fred Ponte visited the farm on Thursday, after the quarantine was ordered, was allowed in, and said he saw four pigs in an enclosure but was told that another 50 or so had escaped from the pen and were somewhere in the woods within the farm property. Other reports put the number at 35 or closer to 100 pigs.

When asked by Shoreline for comment, a woman who answered the Martin Cheese Company said, “I am not allowed to say anything.”

MDAR declined comment on specifics and detective Antonio Cestodio said Westport Police have not been involved.

The Board of Health has scheduled a hearing on the situation including the discrepancy between the permitted and actual number of pigs present.

In the meantime, the incident has produced an outburst of Facebook frustration about the fact that such incidents continue to happen in Westport.

But in another sort of Facebook discussion about Westport pigs, a poster boasts, “Every year I hide my pigs before the barn book inspection comes.”

The Atlas of American Artisan Cheese states that Martin’s Cheese Company and Dairy Farm was founded in 1927 and is “one of the oldest and best-known dairies that make Portuguese cheese.”