Decades of research confirm pigs are among the most cognitively sophisticated animals, with profound implications for how we justify and regulate their treatment.
The cognitive sophistication of pigs fundamentally challenges the justifications typically used to minimize their welfare. If pigs have self-awareness, can plan for the future, and maintain complex social relationships, the suffering caused by gestation crates, barren environments, and social disruption is not a simple biological frustration but something closer to a psychological harm experienced by a being with a subjective perspective. The gap between pig cognitive capacity and the legal protections afforded them remains ethically indefensible.