ROSA WOODS/STUFF Staglands founder John Simister is one of two men credited with saving the kunekune pig from extinction in the 1970s. The birds were prized by both Māori, with their white-tipped tail feathers a revered taonga, and Pākehā. Their numbers declined rapidly upon the arrival of Pākehā, with deforestation and hunting blamed for their extinction. Male and female pairs are often displayed together due to the females having much longer beaks. The Dannevirke Gallery of History was home to a pair, which were shot in the Pohangina valley, north of Palmerston North, in 1889 and mounted as a wedding gift before being donated to the museum.