Pigs are among the most intelligent farm animals, with cognitive abilities comparable to dogs and young children. Providing adequate enrichment is a legal requirement and welfare imperative.
Pigs have complex cognitive and emotional lives. They can solve puzzles, recognise individual humans, experience optimism and pessimism, and develop lasting social relationships. In barren environments — bare concrete floors, nothing to investigate or manipulate — they suffer from chronic understimulation that leads to harmful behaviours including tail biting, aggression, and in severe cases cannibalism. The welfare evidence strongly supports deep straw bedding with rooting opportunity as the minimum acceptable standard for pig housing. The gap between this evidence and current commercial practice represents a major unresolved welfare challenge.