THE world’s smallest pigs have returned to their homeland following a decades-long Durrell programme to protect them from extinction.
The Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust has been working in collaboration with various environmental organisations to safeguard pygmy hogs since 1996, when six were taken into captivity from the Kuribeel grasslands of Manas National Park in the Northeast India state, Assam.
The species was previously thought to have gone extinct until 1971, when some were found sheltering from a grassland fire in a neighbouring tea plantation.
Now, following the successful breeding and releasing of nearly 200 hogs over the years, for the very first time, they have been released back to the very same location where their conservation journey began 30 years ago.
Over the next five years, the Pygmy Hog Conservation Programme plans to release around 80 pygmy hogs, with the goal of rebuilding a wild population of approximately 300 of the species by 2040.
Rebecca Brewer, chief executive officer of Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, said: “The Pygmy Hog Conservation Programme is one of our longest running projects here at Durrell and this milestone release shows the power of our long-term conservation efforts. We are so proud to lead this collaborative initiative that has saved the pygmy hog from extinction and helped the wild population to grow and thrive in their historic home once again.”
