Captain James Cook first anchored in a quiet bay on New Zealand's South Island called Ship Cove on January 15, 1770. During these visits, according to the Department of Conservation field guide to Ship Cove, Cook and his crew released pigs and goats at the cove so that future sailors passing through could hunt them for fresh meat instead of relying only on ship rations.
Nearly 250 years later, their wild descendants are still roaming the same forests. Except now, conservationists see them as one of the region's biggest threats to native bush, not a helpful food supply.
