Routine tail docking of piglets is widespread in intensive pork production but is prohibited without veterinary justification under EU law — a gap between policy and practice that persists across many systems.
Tail docking is a painful procedure performed without anaesthesia on newborn piglets. The wound is a chronic source of discomfort during healing. More fundamentally, the need for docking signals a welfare failure: environments so deficient that pigs redirect their foraging drive onto pen-mates. Addressing the root cause — enrichment, space, and lower stocking density — eliminates the need for the intervention entirely.