Joy as wild boar facing death allowed to stay with owner

Animal rights campaigners in France are celebrating after a tamed wild boar facing the threat of death was allowed to stay with its owner.

The boar, named Rillette, was found in 2023 as a piglet by Elodie Cappé on her horse-breeding smallholding in Chaource, central France, after apparently been abandoned by its mother.

Local authorities had refused Ms Cappé the permission required to keep a wild animal. Unable to find a sanctuary to take Rillette, she faced the possibility of having to get it euthanised.

A French court has now ruled the authority’s decision must be re-examined.

Ms Cappé’s husband thought it was a joke when she came home with the baby boar on 1 April – April Fool’s Day – which she then raised.

She told the BBC she had initially tried to release Rillette back into the wild, but the boar came running back.

“She’s happy here,” Ms Cappé said.

Wild boars can carry diseases and cause a nuisance to farmers because of their size. Weighing between 60-100kg, according to the Woodland Trust, they are capable of knocking down fences, damaging fields and killing livestock.

While attacks on humans are rare, wild boars have increasingly been spotted roaming towns and cities across Europe – prompting officials to authorise culls in several countries.

When Ms Cappé’s local authority refused her permission to keep the wild animal – and unable to find a sanctuary that would take the sizeable beast – she faced two options.

She could give the boar to a woman who trained animals for films for profit, or Rillette would be euthanised – neither of which she wanted to happen.

Ms Cappé described Rillette – whom she cuddles and strokes – as her “best friend”.

“We both play a lot. I learn a lot of things. She knows how to sit [on command], lie down, play with dogs.

“She joins us for horse rides. She sleeps with the dogs. She’s a clown! She spends her days doing silly things to play.”

Keeping the boar, though, meant Ms Cappé risked a three-year jail sentence and a €150,000 (£127,000) fine.

Her appeal to a French court gained worldwide attention. She said she received calls from Germany, Ukraine, Brazil, Canada and the US while fighting the case.

Rillette’s story has drawn comparisons with a case in the US last year, in which a tame squirrel named Peanut that had had a large following on social media was put down by the authorities, sparking outcry.

In France, the animal rights activist and film star, Brigitte Bardot, joined the campaign to save Rillette.

A court in the nearby city of Châlons-en-Champagne has now ruled that the authorities must reconsider Ms Cappé’s original application.

It also ordered them to pay her €15,000 (£12,700) in damages, according to Reuters.

The judge said that “although the capture of live wild boars in the wild is in principle prohibited, the prefect nevertheless still has the power to authorise it”.

Ms Cappé was ecstatic when her lawyer relayed the decision: “I started partying – I screamed very loud as I was very happy.”

She said she was going to buy a cake and drink champagne, explaining that cake, along with apples, are one of her pet’s favourite foods.

Additional reporting by Aleks Phillips