Animal rights campaigners in France are fighting to save a wild boar adopted as a piglet by a horse breeder but now threatened with being put down if her owner does not send her to a specialised sanctuary.

A wild boar adopted by a French horse breeder can remain with her owner, a court ruled on Thursday, after threats by authorities to remove and even euthanize her triggered a storm of protest.

Brigitte Bardot added her voice to storm of protest sparked after authorities threatened to separate Rillette from owner Elodie Cappe and even euthanise her

A French court convened on Monday to rule on the fate of a wild boar adopted by a horse-breeder in 2023. The sow, known as "Rillette", has become a cause célèbre in France and abroad after officials declared her a health and safety risk and threatened to put her down.

French horse breeder Elodie Cappe poses with "Rillette", a wild boar she rescued as a piglet in 2023 that is now at the center of a legal dispute over the keeping of wild animals in France, near stables at her farm in Chaource, France, January 15, 2025. REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq

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.

Elodie Cappe took in a female wild boar. Due to unfavourable laws, she faced imprisonment for keeping a non-domesticated animal, and the animal faced euthanasia. Only now, after two years, has the legal dispute been resolved.