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.

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

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. The wild boar was found as a tiny piglet near the rubbish bins outside Elodie Cappé's horse farm in Chaource,

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.