Up to 40 “pet” pigs are set to be moved from the Coromandel Peninsula to a sanctuary in Wellington after their long-time carer was charged with murder.

The future of the pigs had been in doubt after property owner Stuart Edmondson pleaded not guilty to murdering Kevin Mabbot and the attempted murder of another man on the 309 Rd last week.

Edmondson had become famous in the community for caring for the friendly pigs and piglets, with locals and tourists often visiting his property to snap photos of themselves petting the animals.

However, he had also long reported having trouble with people stealing and killing some of them.

Now animal welfare group Helping You Help Animals (HUHA) says it’s planning to rescue about 40 of the pigs and move them to its 157-acre Haywards Hill sanctuary in rural Wellington.

Edmondson’s three dogs will also be rescued in the Sunday operation.

“We will keep them safe and give each of them a bright future away from the people wanting to harm them,” the group said in a Facebook post.

Edmondson, 77, appeared briefly in the High Court in Hamilton earlier this week to enter not-guilty pleas to multiple charges.

Both 41-year-old Mabbott and the other victim had been shot.

A witness told the Herald that Mabbott was “shot in the chest” and was pronounced dead at the scene.

He believed the other man had been hit in the shoulder.

The two victims were understood to have been hunting pigs at the time.

Immediately after Edmondson was taken into custody, animal welfare groups and family and friends began worrying for the pigs.

A Givealittle page set up on Monday made an “urgent appeal” for the pigs' safety and has since raised more than $35,000.

It said the pigs faced an “uncertain and dangerous future” and “are likely to become targets for hunters”.

“For over 70 years, this man lived on the property his parents purchased, dedicating his life to these animals,” it said.

“He treated the pigs like family, raising them with love and care.

“Tourists from around the world visited to meet these friendly pigs, who were raised as beloved pets.”

Carolyn Press-McKenzie, the founder of HUHA, told the Herald there were two groups of pigs roaming Edmondson’s Coromandel Peninsula property.

Those that were domesticated and beloved pets, who Edmondson even slept with at night, and wild pigs wandering in and out for food and comfort.

The pigs have become somewhat of an attraction for those visiting the Coromandel.

HUHA would be collecting the pet pigs, and she said identifying which ones to take shouldn’t be hard.

“They follow you everywhere, apparently,” Press-McKenzie said.

“I was talking to one of the gentlemen yesterday, who was caring for them, and he said he feels like the Pied Piper.”

She said that not long before the recent shooting, Edmondson had invited HUHA to help him.

They had been considering potentially desexing the animals and fencing the property.

Then, after Edmondson was taken into police custody, family friends stepped in to watch over the pigs.

His family also contacted HUHA with Edmondson’s blessing to ask them to move the pigs.

Press-McKenzie said those on the property had told her that “because a lot of the bigger pigs had already been poached, these are all quite small”.

To house the pigs, HUHA rushed through plans to fence off 10 acres of sanctuary land containing pine and native trees.

The 40 pigs will join 30 already living on the sanctuary.

To help feed the existing 30 pigs, HUHA currently receives about $64,000 in donated food a year consisting of food scraps from Pak’nSave and malt from Panhead brewery.

She hopes to be able to get more volunteers to come in and “scratch their bellies and tell them they’re lovely”.

“All need to know they’re loved and cared for,” Press-McKenzie said.

The aim will be to rehome all 70 pigs and Edmondson’s dogs but if suitable homes cannot be found they’ll be welcomed to live out the rest of their lives on the sanctuary.

In a video directed by Amy Taylor and James Muir and posted to YouTube in 2018, Edmondson talks about having had trouble with people hurting pigs he regarded as pets.

“They just walk up to people and they just shoot them with a crossbow and put them in all that pain, very slow deaths,” he said in the documentary.

“Breaks your heart when you see an animal suffering like that.”

-Bay of Plenty Times