Pet boar gets to stay with French owner, for now: court

A French woman who has kept a wild boar as a pet since finding and domesticating the animal can keep it for now, a court has ordered, overruling local authorities who insisted the animal had to be removed or killed.

Horse breeder Elodie Cappe found the female boar -- named Rillette after a delicacy often made from pork -- in 2023 when it was still a piglet near a complex of stables she runs in Chaource, in France's centre-east.

The local prefecture informed Cappe that she had to find "an adapted structure" for the boar, which has grown to weigh 100 kilos (220 pounds), or have it euthanized.

The order caused an outcry among animal lovers in France and abroad, with former film star and prominent animal rights activist Brigitte Bardot weighing in to save Rillette.

Several petitions launched on the Change.org website calling for the boar to be allowed to stay put have clocked up a total of around 300,000 signatures.

After the prefecture rejected all calls to drop its opposition to Rillette staying with her owner, Cappe took the case before an administrative court in November.

In its ruling delivered Thursday, the court rejected the administration's argument that non-domesticated animals can only be held by private individuals if they are from a recognised breeding centre.

"Nowhere", the court said, did the law state that "they need to be born and bred in captivity".

While allowing that it is illegal in principle to capture wild boars, the judge noted that the prefecture can grant exceptions, and asked the administration to reconsider its stance.

"We are very happy," Cappe told AFP, adding she hoped that "finally" the prefecture would allow her to keep Rillette.

Her lawyer, Karl Burger, added that Cappe has been meeting all requirements for holding non-domesticated animals, including having Rillette vaccinated, sterilized and providing a secure, enclosed shelter.

© Agence France-Presse