Tail docking is performed on billions of pigs annually to prevent tail biting, but the practice causes pain and masks the underlying welfare problems that drive biting behaviour.
Tail docking is a welfare harm performed to prevent another welfare harm — tail biting — that is itself caused by welfare-compromising conditions. The logic is circular and the solution misidentified: addressing tail biting by docking tails treats the symptom while leaving the cause intact. Overcrowded, understimulated pigs with no rooting substrate bite tails whether docked or not. The genuine solution is environmental enrichment, appropriate stocking densities, rooting substrate and social stability — interventions that Nordic countries have demonstrated eliminate tail biting without docking. The EU legal framework is clear; the failure is in enforcement and in political will to require the management changes that make docking unnecessary.