Pygmy Hog reintroduced in Sonai Rupai sanctuary 

Guwahati, May 11: A total of 16 pygmy hogs, the smallest pig in the world were released in grasslands of Sonai Rupai wild life sanctuary on Friday last, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF, Wildlife) MC Malakar said on Sunday. 

The pygmy hog (Porcula salvania) is the world's smallest pig standing about 25-30 cm from the ground, and was once common across India, Nepal, and Bhutan but by the 1960s was thought to be extinct. 

The pygmy hogs were bred at the Guwahati-based Pygmy Hog Conservation Programme (PHCP), a collaborative project of Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, World Conservation Union's Pigs, Peccaries and Hippos Specialist Group (PPHSG), Assam forest department and ministry of environment and forest.  

About 75 pygmy hogs were bred at PHCP from six wild pygmy hogs brought from Manas national park in 1996.  

"It is a successful conservation project of pygmy hogs by releasing them in the wild and saving them from extinction. The Sonai Rupai wildlife sanctuary is already a habitat for pygmy hogs, and we are happy that the species have been reintroduced there," Malakar said. 

Until 1977 pymgy hogs were believed to have gone extinct. But an extensive study conducted by PPHSG chairperson William Oliver in 1977 confirmed the existence of pygmy hogs in the north-western part Assam.  

Oliver was instrumental in formulating pygmy hog conservation action plan, which was accepted by ministry of environment and forest. 

Gautam Narayan of EcoSystems-India, a partner NGO in the conservation project, said around 200 pygmy hogs are in the wild of Assam. 

Grasslands are burnt in national parks for as a part of park management. However, the process has risked the survival of pygmy hogs which built nests in the grasslands.  

"Instead of regular and extensive burning of grasslands, it done with substantial gap of years and in patches, so that pygmy hog habitats are not destroyed," Oliver said.