Rillette is a typical dish of French charcuterie consisting of shredded pork cooked in its own fat and seasoned with salt and pepper. Rillette is also the curious name of a wild boar raised in Chaource, two hundred kilometers southeast of Paris, who has become the protagonist of an unusual campaign for animal rights, led by actress Brigitte Bardot and supported by over 170,000 signatures.
"Save Rillette!" will be the slogan of the silent march, called for this weekend by the small shopkeepers of the village of just over a thousand inhabitants that has made headlines in French news due to the now famous wild boar, threatened by local authorities with euthanasia for not being considered a domestic animal.
Rillette was found in April 2023 by horse breeder Élodie Cappé when she was rummaging through her trash. Due to her size, she estimated that the boar was only a few months old and possibly orphaned: "I contacted animal sanctuaries and zoos, but no one wanted her."
In the meantime, she decided to build a fenced habitat of 1.2 square kilometers for her upbringing. The wild boar has finally found accommodation in a stable and spends several hours a day in freedom, following her owner and frolicking among her dogs.
"She has fully integrated into our large family," boasts Crappé, who poses for the cameras while grooming and petting Rillette, oblivious to the national uproar that has arisen at her expense, sniffing and following her owner everywhere. "She behaves really like a dog: you call her, and she comes running to you."
Cappé assures that Rillette "poses no risk to anyone," as the nearest inhabited farm is three kilometers away. However, the authorities of the Aube department consider her presence in the area "irregular" and her upbringing "illegal" as she lacks the necessary permits.
"A wild boar cannot have a legal permit as a domestic animal," warn the authorities, reiterating that the animal can be considered a "danger to public health" with the spread of diseases like swine fever, plus the added risk of "tragic accidents" and the destruction of crops of nearby farmers.
Cappé has been instructed to urgently find a "sanctuary" for Rillette or surrender the animal for euthanasia. The horse breeder faces a three-year prison sentence and a fine of 150,000 euros if she does not comply with the orders.
"This little animal is innocent and has the right to live: euthanasia is a crime, and we are governed by murderers," declared Brigitte Bardot, known for her activism in defense of animal rights, when joining the petition on Change.org supported by over 170,000 signatories and promoted, among others, by the famous YouTuber Monsieur Seby, who has dedicated a song to Rillette.
Accustomed to living with humans
The petition emphasizes how the wild boar has become accustomed "to living among humans" and how she has "the most natural possible habitat" for her upbringing. The signatories recall that the wild boar population in France has decreased by 20% in the last decade due to hunting.
The magazine Le Chasseur Français has intervened in the controversy siding with the authorities and advocating for the need to control the overpopulation of wild boars: "The law is the law, and the argument that it is a threatened species is ridiculous. The situation is completely out of control."
In the UK, however, excessive hunting of wild boars led to their almost total extinction two centuries ago, although the species has been bred on farms for meat consumption, and around 2,600 specimens have been reintroduced in recent years in rewilding projects like the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire.
In other countries, such as Italy, overpopulation has led to situations like the culls ordered in 2022 due to the presence of wild boars in the metropolitan area of Rome (an estimated 23,000 specimens live in areas near the periphery). In Berlin, sightings of wild boars are also frequent, occasionally shot by specialized urban hunters.
According to a study by the University of Queensland in 2021, wild boars play a "crucial role" in maintaining biodiversity and can be considered "accidental gardeners," facilitating soil regeneration, controlling pests harmful to trees, and cleaning the forest environment of carrion.