About pigs
Intelligent, Emotional Pigs
“[Pigs] have the cognitive ability to be quite sophisticated. Even more so than dogs and certainly three-year-olds.”
Professor Donald Broom
Oxford University
10 Amazing Facts About Pigs
Did you know that pigs like to cuddle?
Pigs Are Remarkably Intelligent
Pigs are among the most intelligent animals on Earth. They can learn complex tasks, solve problems, remember information and even master simple computer-based games.
Pigs Love to Play
Piglets are naturally playful. They chase one another, jump, run and play-fight. Adult pigs also enjoy playful activities and may wag their tails when they are happy.
Pigs Form Strong Social Bonds
Pigs are highly social animals that develop close relationships with one another. They enjoy companionship, often rest together and can become distressed when separated from familiar group members.
Pigs Are Surprisingly Clean Animals
Despite common misconceptions, pigs are naturally clean. They usually keep their sleeping and eating areas separate from where they relieve themselves, even from a very young age.
Mud Helps Pigs Stay Cool
Pigs have very few functional sweat glands, making it difficult for them to cool down. Rolling in mud helps regulate their body temperature and protects their skin from the sun.
Pigs Have an Extraordinary Sense of Smell
A pig’s sense of smell is incredibly powerful. Their sensitive snouts help them detect food hidden underground, explore their surroundings and recognise familiar scents.
Mother Pigs Sing to Their Babies
Mother pigs communicate with their piglets through a series of distinctive grunts while nursing. Newborn piglets quickly learn to recognise their mother’s voice and respond to her calls.
Pigs Are Emotionally Sensitive
Pigs can recognise and respond to the emotional states of other pigs. Their social awareness and ability to show empathy reveal just how emotionally complex these animals can be.
Pigs Enjoy Affection and Gentle Touch
Many pigs enjoy being scratched, groomed and gently massaged. They are tactile animals that use physical contact to explore their surroundings and interact with others.
A Pig's Snout Is an Amazing Tool
A pig’s snout is packed with sensitive receptors. It allows them to investigate objects, dig through soil, search for roots and tubers, and discover the world through touch and smell.
The natural life of pigs
In their natural environment, pigs are curious, intelligent and highly social animals. They spend much of their day exploring their surroundings, searching for food and using their sensitive snouts to root through the soil. They enjoy discovering new things, playing with one another and investigating the world around them. Rather than simply resting or eating, pigs lead active lives filled with exploration, interaction and learning.
Family and companionship play an important role in a pig’s life. They form close bonds with other pigs, communicate through a variety of sounds and often rest together for comfort and security. Mother pigs are particularly devoted to their young, building nests before giving birth and caring for their piglets after they arrive. Young piglets stay close to their mother, learning from her and gradually developing their own social relationships.
Pigs also have a strong need for comfort, freedom and natural behaviour. They enjoy resting in soft, sheltered places, spending time outdoors and keeping cool by bathing in mud or water. They are naturally clean animals that prefer to keep their sleeping areas separate from where they relieve themselves. When given the space and freedom to live naturally, pigs can express their curiosity, form meaningful relationships and enjoy the rich, fulfilling lives they deserve.
Tip: The best way to observe pigs' natural behaviour is to visit a farm sanctuary where they can live freely, express their natural instincts and enjoy life without fear of slaughter. See for yourself what a natural day in a pig's life looks like.
Factory Farming
Pigs Used for Meat
01 / INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION
Slaughter on an Enormous Scale
Every year, hundreds of millions of pigs are raised and slaughtered around the world for human consumption. Their meat is sold in countless forms, including bacon, ham, sausages and other pork products.
To meet global demand, pig farming has increasingly become an intensive industry, where large numbers of animals are raised in highly controlled environments.
In these systems, every stage of a pig's life is organised around production: how quickly they grow, how much they eat and how often they reproduce. Their individual needs and natural behaviours are too often overlooked.
Behind every number is an individual animal.
02 / CONFINEMENT
A Life of Confinement
Pigs are naturally active, curious animals with a strong desire to explore, root in the ground and interact with one another. Yet in many intensive farming systems, they spend most or all of their lives indoors in crowded enclosures.
Often kept on concrete or slatted floors with little or no bedding, they have limited opportunities to investigate their surroundings or express their natural behaviours.
Without enough space or suitable materials to explore, pigs may develop repetitive behaviours such as biting bars, chewing without food or repeatedly rubbing their snouts against the floor.
A life without the freedom to behave naturally.
03 / BREEDING SOWS
The Desperate Cycle of a Breeding Sow
The life of a breeding sow in intensive pig farming is often an exhausting cycle of pregnancy, birth and nursing. Female pigs may spend much of their adult lives being repeatedly impregnated and expected to raise one litter after another.
In some farming systems, pregnant sows are kept in individual confinement stalls, commonly known as gestation crates.
These narrow metal enclosures restrict their movement so severely that they may be unable to turn around freely or walk away from where they rest. For social animals that naturally seek space and companionship, this can mean prolonged physical and psychological distress.
Her life becomes a cycle dictated by production.
04 / REPRODUCTION
Artificial Insemination
Artificial insemination is widely used in commercial pig production. It allows farmers to control breeding and select particular genetic traits without keeping breeding males on every farm.
Although the procedure itself varies, it is part of a production system in which the reproductive lives of female pigs are carefully managed to maximise efficiency.
Rather than choosing when and with whom to reproduce, sows are bred according to the demands of the industry, with little consideration for their natural social and reproductive behaviour.
Even reproduction becomes an industrial process.
05 / GESTATION CRATES
Imprisoned During Pregnancy
Gestation crates are designed to keep pregnant sows individually confined. Made of metal bars, these stalls offer so little space that the animals may be unable to turn around or move freely.
In large industrial facilities, rows of these crates can fill enormous indoor buildings.
The hard, often slatted floors can contribute to discomfort, injuries and mobility problems. Restricted movement and a lack of stimulation can also lead to boredom, frustration and abnormal repetitive behaviours.
Pregnancy should not mean a life in a cage.
06 / MOTHERHOOD
Nursing Piglets in Industrial Stalls
Shortly before giving birth, sows may be moved into farrowing crates. These enclosures are designed to reduce the risk of piglets being accidentally crushed, but they severely restrict the mother's movement.
In natural conditions, a pregnant sow would seek a quiet place and build a nest using grass, leaves and other materials before giving birth.
In a farrowing crate, she may be unable to turn around, move away from her piglets or properly express her natural maternal behaviours. Her ability to interact with and care for her young is restricted.
A mother should be free to care for her babies.
07 / PAINFUL PROCEDURES
Castrated and Tail-Docked Without Relief
In many intensive farming systems, piglets undergo painful procedures at a very young age. Male piglets may be surgically castrated to prevent unwanted reproductive behaviour and reduce the risk of boar taint in meat.
Their tails may also be docked to reduce the risk of tail biting, a behaviour that can develop in stressful, overcrowded and unstimulating environments.
These procedures cause pain and distress, particularly when performed without appropriate anaesthesia and pain relief. Better living conditions and suitable enrichment can help address the underlying causes of tail biting.
Their pain is often treated as part of production.
08 / GROWING UP
The Endless Cycle
After weaning, piglets are separated from their mothers and moved into rearing and fattening facilities. There, their feeding and growth are closely controlled until they reach the weight required for slaughter.
Meanwhile, breeding sows are often impregnated again shortly after their piglets are weaned, beginning another cycle of pregnancy and nursing.
This continues until their reproductive performance declines and they are no longer considered economically productive. They are then sent to slaughter, just like the pigs they have given birth to.
Born, raised, and bred again — all for production.
09 / TRANSPORT & SLAUGHTER
Transport and Slaughter
When pigs reach the desired market weight, they are loaded onto trucks and transported to slaughterhouses. For animals that have spent their lives in familiar surroundings, the noise, handling, mixing with unfamiliar pigs and journey itself can be frightening and stressful.
Transport can also expose pigs to exhaustion, injuries and extreme temperatures. Animals that are already weak, sick or unable to walk may be particularly vulnerable.
At the slaughterhouse, they face further handling and the final stage of a life in which almost every decision has been made for them.
They deserve more than a life measured by weight.
10 / ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
The Environmental Cost
The impact of intensive pig farming extends beyond the animals themselves. Large concentrations of pigs produce enormous quantities of manure and wastewater, which must be stored and managed.
When poorly handled, these wastes can pollute rivers, groundwater and soil, while releasing gases that affect air quality and contribute to environmental problems.
The consequences can reach beyond farm boundaries, affecting nearby communities, ecosystems and other animals. Factory farming is therefore not only an animal welfare issue, but also an environmental concern.
The consequences extend far beyond the farm.Slide 1 of 10
How Pigs Are Killed
The Truth Behind Bacon
Behind the pork industry lies a reality of confinement, distress and suffering for millions of pigs.
United Kingdom
11.4 million
Approximately 11.4 million pigs were slaughtered in the United Kingdom in 2022.
Global
1.49 billion
Approximately 1.49 billion pigs were slaughtered worldwide in 2022.
Every year, millions of pigs are slaughtered for their meat in industrial slaughterhouses around the world. Before they are killed, most must undergo a stunning process intended to render them unconscious. One widely used method is exposure to high concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO₂) inside specially designed gas chambers. However, pigs are conscious when they first encounter the gas, which makes the experience extremely distressing. As CO₂ enters their respiratory system, it causes an intense sensation of breathlessness and can trigger panic, violent attempts to escape, gasping and severe respiratory distress. Animals may struggle for several seconds before losing consciousness, enduring considerable fear and physical suffering during the process.
The use of carbon dioxide stunning has attracted serious criticism from animal welfare scientists because of the pain, fear and distress it can cause. Another method used in slaughterhouses is electrical stunning, also known as electronarcosis. This involves applying electrodes to the pig’s head and passing an electric current through the brain in an attempt to induce unconsciousness. However, the effectiveness of this method depends on several factors, including the strength and duration of the current and the correct positioning of the electrodes. If the equipment is incorrectly applied or the electrical current is insufficient, the animal may not be rendered fully unconscious. Even when stunning is initially successful, unconsciousness may be temporary, creating a risk that the pig could regain awareness if the next stage of slaughter is delayed.
Regardless of the stunning method used, pigs are subsequently subjected to a procedure known as ‘sticking’. They are typically shackled by a hind leg, suspended from a rail and have major blood vessels in their neck severed so that they bleed to death. This process is intended to take place while the animal remains unconscious. However, if stunning has failed or its effects wear off before death, a pig may regain consciousness while bleeding. This means the animal could experience the pain and terror of the final stages of slaughter. Such failures raise profound concerns about the reliability of slaughter procedures and the extent to which existing systems can genuinely protect animals from avoidable suffering.
Two Different Realities
Two Very Different Lives
The same intelligent, sensitive animal. Two profoundly different realities. Discover the contrast between a pig's natural life and the conditions experienced by many pigs in intensive farming systems.
A Natural Life
Freedom to Be a Pig
Exploring, playing, socialising and expressing natural instincts in a safe and enriching environment.
Nature. Freedom. Connection.
Factory Farming
A Life of Confinement
Restricted movement, limited stimulation and daily life shaped around production.
Confinement. Control. Production.
Further Reading
Why Go Vegan?
Explore the ethical, environmental, and health reasons for choosing a vegan lifestyle.
How to Go Vegan?
A practical, step-by-step guide to making the transition to a healthy vegan diet.
How to Stay Vegan?
Practical strategies and tips to make vegan living enjoyable, balanced, and sustainable long-term.
