Invercargill Mayor Tim Shadbolt could be catching pigs on Auckland Island by early next year.
Mr Shadbolt wants to get up to 20 of the disease-free pigs to demonstrate the South's support for Living Cell Technologies' diabetes research.
He yesterday said he might use the company's concession to remove the pigs, and that he already had a boat lined up to take him there.
Conservation Minister Kate Wilkinson had advised him to get permits from the Department of Conservation, and he said everything should be in place by the end of the year.
There was "no actual resistance from Doc", which considers the pigs an introduced pest.
Mr Shadbolt said he was told to take a Doc officer on the trip, and to visit the sub-Antarctic islands when the wind was not blowing so hard.
The trip would not be council-funded.
