The bid to save Tararua's Donald the wandering pig

A Tararua pig with a fondness for wandering has "captured the hearts" of so many Kiwis there is now a campaign to save him from becoming bacon.

In the early hours of 17 June, police contacted the Tararua District council after finding Donald the pig roaming along State Highway 2 through Eketāhuna.

Donald was sold last week for $320 at a council auction and was then taken to a farm in Feilding where he was to be made into bacon.

That is until the Animal Justice Party (AJP) started a campaign to stop this from happening and have now even secured a sanctuary for him to stay in if they are able to free him.

AJP co-founder, Danette Wereta, told Checkpoint there had been a good response from the public to Donald's case.

"He's really captured the hearts of so many Kiwis who really want to see him live and want to have the opportunity for Donald to experience freedom."

She said the AJP had so far provided details to the successful bidder - whose identity was so far confidential - to have a conversation around "securing freedom for Donald".

"Lots of people across the country have put their hand up and contacted the Animal Justice Party to say that they'd like to provide donations"

Wereta said while they are not accepting the donations yet, if the party was able to secure Donald's freedom, they can then do so through donations.

The party is yet to hear back from the bidder, but Wereta was hopeful that they would get in touch after seeing all the coverage around Donald's story.

"They have obviously not done anything wrong. It's brilliant that they're part of this wonderful story and we're hoping that they want to be involved with securing that freedom for Donald."

She said they were able to secure a spot for Donald in Clausewild Sanctuary based in Raglan, who offered to take him on.

Wereta said while both the purchaser and the council had done nothing wrong by auctioning Donald, it was the AJP's role to think of the animal's best interest.

"Obviously for all animals, whether they're companion animals or farmed animals, the best thing is to get them home to their guardian and if they can't get home, then it's about finding what the next best option for them is."

She said the next step was to wait and have the right conversations with Donald's purchasers and then start rallying donations to secure his freedom, transportation and getting him any veterinary care.