A French court has ruled that a wild boar named "Rillette" can remain with her owner, after a long legal battle and public outcry over the authorities' attempts to remove or euthanise the animal.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Sitting on a hay bale, French horse breeder Elodie Cappe delicately patted and lovingly rested her head on Rillette, a wild boar she took in as a piglet, worrying she could be separated from her pet in the midst of a legal battle with the French justice system.

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.

The adoptive parents of a wild boar named Rillette fought against local authorities that wanted to have her euthanized.