The Husum Red Pied or is a rare Danish

breed A breed is a specific group of breedable domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist seve ...

domestic pig The pig (''Sus domesticus''), also called swine (: swine) or hog, is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is named the domestic pig when distinguishing it from other members of the genus '' Sus''. Some authorities cons ...

. It is a red pig with a white belt or saddle which includes the forelegs, so the head, neck, rump and hind parts are red; it is considered a colour variant of the Angeln Saddleback. The name derives from that of the town of

Husum Husum (, ) is the capital of the ''Kreis'' (district) Nordfriesland in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. The town was the birthplace of the novelist Theodor Storm, who coined the epithet "the grey town by the sea". It is also the home of the annual i ...

on the coast of

Nordfriesland Nordfriesland (; ; Low German: Noordfreesland), also known as North Frisia, is the northernmost Districts of Germany, district of Germany, part of the state of Schleswig-Holstein. It includes almost all of traditional North Frisia (with the e ...

in northern

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; ; ; ; ; occasionally in English ''Sleswick-Holsatia'') is the Northern Germany, northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical Duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of S ...

, where pigs of this kind are documented from the late nineteenth century. Flag of Denmark

At this time, when the area was under

Prussian Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, the House of Hohenzoll ...

rule, display of the

Danish flag The flag of Denmark (, ) is red with a white Nordic cross, which means that the cross extends to the edges of the flag and that the vertical part of the cross is shifted to the hoist side. A banner with a white-on-red cross is attested as havin ...

was not permitted; according to legend, some Danish separatist farmers craftily bred the pigs to possess a white stripe to resemble the

Nordic cross A Nordic cross flag is a flag bearing the design of the Nordic or Scandinavian cross, a cross symbol in a rectangular field, with the centre of the cross shifted towards the hoist. All independent Nordic countries have adopted such flags in ...

in the flag, and it acquired the nickname Danish Protest Pig.

History

The Husumer Rotbunte is a red variant of the Angeln Saddleback; its full official name is , 'German Saddleback Pig – Red Pied Husumer section'. In 1864, during the

Second Schleswig War The Second Schleswig War (; or German Danish War), also sometimes known as the Dano-Prussian War or Prusso-Danish War, was the second military conflict over the Schleswig–Holstein question of the nineteenth century. The war began on 1 Februar ...

, Prussia declared victory over Danish lands and instituted new laws forbidding the display of the Danish flag. Separatist farmers bred the pig to resemble the Nordic cross in the flag. They were unable to breed the horizontal stripe but they succeeded in creating what culturally Danish people celebrated as the Danish Protest Pig (, ). It was recognized as a breed in 1954; the last time a sow with piglets was seen at a show was at

Rendsburg Rendsburg (, also ''Rensborg'', , also ''Rensborg'') is a town on the Eider (river), River Eider and the Kiel Canal in the central part of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is the capital of the ''Kreis'' (district) of Rendsburg-Eckernfoerde, Rends ...

in 1968, and thereafter it was thought to be extinct. Pigs corresponding to the description of the breed were seen again in Berlin in 1984, and a

breed association Breed clubs are associations or clubs with activities centered on a single, specific breed of a particular species of domesticated animal. The purpose of the association will vary with the species of animal and the goals and needs of the members ...

, the , was formed in that year. In 2007 the breed society was the . Breeding populations exist in the

Berlin Zoological Garden The Berlin Zoological Garden (, ) is the oldest surviving and best-known zoo in Germany. Opened in 1844, it covers and is located in Berlin's Tiergarten (park), Tiergarten. With about 1,380 different species and over 20,200 animals, the zoo pre ...

, the

Hanover Zoo Hanover Zoo is located in the Mitte borough of Hanover, Germany. The zoo was established on 4 May 1865, and comprises an area of . It contains about 3,414 animals in 237 species, which are cared for by more than 400 employees in the summer seaso ...

, the Tierpark Arche Warder near

Kiel Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Ba ...

, in the

ZOOM Erlebniswelt Gelsenkirchen ZOOM Erlebniswelt Gelsenkirchen, founded on April 14, 1949, as "Ruhr-Zoo", is one of the most modern zoological gardens in Germany. It was founded on a heavily shelled area in Gelsenkirchen adjacent to a port on the Rhine–Herne Canal. It init ...

, in Dalmsdorf (Mecklenburg), Hof Lütjensee, and on the Archehof Blumencron. The

Dortmund Zoo The Dortmund Zoo is the zoological garden of Dortmund, Germany. It is specialized in the keeping and breeding of South American species and is leading in the breeding of the giant anteater, the tamandua and the giant otter. The zoo is situated i ...

and the Tierpark Krüzen house small populations too. At the moment, around 140 specimens are alive worldwide. The German federal state of

supports preservation of the breed for its cultural value.

Characteristics

Husumer boars reach a height of about and weigh up to ; sows are about in height, with a weight of some . It is a red pig with a white belt or saddle; the saddle includes the forelegs, so the head, neck, rump and hind parts are red.

References

External links

Homepage of the breeders association (German)Hanover Zoo page on the Danish Protest Pig
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160225034433/https://www.zoo-hannover.de/de/tiere/tier-lexikon/rotbuntes-husumer-protestschwein , date=2016-02-25 Pig breeds originating in Germany Animal breeds on the GEH Red List