Three runaway pigs were found safe and carrying a few extra pounds after they went missing last month - sparking a full-scale pig-hunt.
A farmer spotted the six-month-old saddleback sows, who were apparently "safe and well", on his moorland.
With the help of the Lancashire Wildlife Trust's East Lancashire reserves officer Phil Dykes, and the pig's owner, he managed to catch the plucky porkers after a "bit of pig wrestling".
The sows were being kept in an enclosure in the Forest of Bowland close to Clitheroe, Lancashire, as part of a trial to encourage natural regeneration.
Mr Dykes said: “We found them on moorland belonging to another farmer and that farmer, the pigs’ owner and myself were able to capture the three – after a bit of pig wrestling.
“They are now safely back in the woodland but they seem to have almost doubled in size since they went missing, probably because of the large amounts of acorns around at the moment.”
The pigs were apparently happily eating their food in the woodland following the great escape.
The trio, owned by Jack and Flusk from Wigan, are being used to graze the woodland to improve its condition for birds and other wildlife.
Mr Dykes and wife Rose had turned detectives to find the pigs, and he said: “I am now an expert on pig droppings.
"After the first report from the farmer we could tell where there were fresh droppings and where the ground had been dug up, so we had an idea we were getting closer.”
He added: “It was just brilliant to see the pigs again. It felt like I had found some long lost friends.
"Now they are back where they belong and seem very happy and contented, just like me!”
Their escape follows in the hoof-steps of the Tamworth Two, a pair of siblings who dodged a date at a slaughterhouse in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, in 1998.
Sundance, a Tamworth boar, escaped with his sister Butch and spent a week on the run before finally being recaptured and rehomed at a rare breeds farm in Kent where they lived out the remainder of their lives in peace.
