Auckland Island Pigs contribute millions to economy

The Auckland Island Pigs Project has injected around $12,000,000 into the Southland economy, which is an excellent return on the $20,000 investment from the Mayor’s Contingency Fund, Invercargill Mayor Tim Shadbolt announced today.

“It’s been a long, hard struggle having to provide food and shelter for the pigs during the 10 years it took before the Living Cell Technologies’ facility was built in 2009 at Awarua but in financial terms it was well worth the effort because 9 FTE (full time equivalent) jobs were created.”

Mr Shadbolt said that research provided by Venture Southland staff member Stephen Canny showed the estimated value of the contribution that the Auckland Island Pigs had made to the economy between 1999 and December 2011.

The total estimated contribution of around $12,000,000 had been dramatically influenced by the building and commissioning of the Awarua Quarantine Facility.

In addition to these figures there had been additional employment opportunities of 9 FTE jobs; 2 of which were involved in support services outside of Living Cell Technologies. These figures had been extrapolated from the information provided by Living Cell Technologies, the City Council and based on the project’s development timetable.

Mr Shadbolt said Mr Canny had also provided the following financial breakdown of the Auckland Island Pigs’ contribution to the Southland economy from 1999 to 2011:

Donovan Park fit out and rental – 9 years $ 390,000

Pig recovery $ 65,000

Feed $ 150,000

Other operational costs $ 2,235,000

Quarantine facility construction costs $ 3,000,000

Value of production (estimated) $ 4,500,000

Wages and salary $ 1,675,000


Total $12,015,000