A Stewart Island man will reluctantly bring home the bacon this Friday, after agreeing with the regional council to slaughter his three illegal migrant pigs.
Wanting to establish a self-sufficient farm on the island, Gavin Ferguson arranged for the Berkshire pigs to be sent over from the mainland six months ago, unaware pigs had been banned from the island.
An Environment Southland revised regional pest management strategy came into force in September last year, and after a tip-off, the council issued Mr Ferguson with a notice of direction to destroy the pigs or remove them from the island.
Meeting council officials on Friday in an attempt to resolve the dispute, Mr Ferguson agreed to slaughter the three pigs "sooner rather than later".
The pigs were to help with disposing of scraps from his soon-to-be-opened restaurant as well as preparing the 0.5ha fenced garden for future planting, but now they were destined for his freezer, he said.
The three 7-month-old pigs, Boris, Kobi and Marble would be slaughtered on Friday.
Mr Ferguson said when the strategy came up for revision in 2010 he might ask for the inclusion of pigs on the island.
Environment Southland compliance manager Mark Hunter said the local policeman would witness the slaughter of the pigs and report back to council.
