Conservation breeding and re-introduction of the pygmy hog in N.W. Assam, India

Summary

The pygmy hog (Porcula salvania), the world's smallest and most endangered wild suid, had been reduced by the 1980s to a single fragmented population in India's Manas National Park after disappearing across the rest of its Himalayan-foothills grassland range. The Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust-backed Pygmy Hog Conservation Program, launched in 1995, began with six wild hogs captured from Manas in 1996, whose captive offspring grew the breeding population to 35 within a year and to 77 by 2001, a 13-fold increase requiring deliberate breeding curbs to manage. After identifying and restoring grassland habitat at Sonai Rupai Wildlife Sanctuary and Nameri National Park, unrelated hogs were grouped into compatible social units, pre-conditioned at a specially built enclosure to encourage natural foraging and nest-building with minimal human contact, and finally held in soft-release enclosures within Sonai Rupai before fences were opened to let them leave on their own. Sixteen hogs were released in May 2008, with 10-12 surviving several months and camera-trap evidence confirming healthy coats and successful wild farrowing; further releases of nine and ten hogs followed in 2009 and 2010, bringing the total to 35 released hogs showing signs of survival, breeding and dispersal. Radio-harness tracking proved unreliable, causing skin lesions when tight or allowing escapes when loose, so monitoring instead relied on camera traps and field sign. Major difficulties included a severe shortage of properly managed grassland habitat, since most surviving areas suffer from unscientific burning and grazing regimes. The project rates itself Successful, citing highly effective captive breeding and sustained institutional commitment as the core achievements so far.