On a remote, windswept archipelago far south of New Zealand, a small herd of pigs lived out more than two centuries as one of the world’s most isolated feral populations. Their ancestors were left on the Auckland Islands in 1807, released by sailors as a living food store for any shipwrecked castaways who might one day wash up on those storm-battered shores. For 192 years, the pigs roamed the subantarctic forests and bogs, adapting to a harsh climate and becoming a unique genetic lineage known as the Auckland Island pig. In the early 2000s, as part of a major conservation effort to restore the islands, the decision was made to eradicate all feral pigs. Before that work began, 17 individuals were captured and brought back to the mainland to preserve the breed. As documented by the Rare Breeds Trust of New Zealand, their rescue marked the end of one chapter and the uncertain beginning of another for these living relics of maritime history.
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