The transport of pigs to slaughter represents one of the most significant welfare events in a farmed pig's life, with millions of pigs experiencing mixing stress, temperature extremes, exhaustion, and injury during journeys that may last many hours.
Transport to slaughter combines multiple serious stressors for pigs: unfamiliar conspecifics causing fighting, novel and alarming environments, temperature extremes, vibration, noise, and deprivation of feed and water. Many pigs arrive at slaughter plants already stressed, injured from fighting, or heat-exhausted. The animals at the end of the transport chain are often in worse welfare condition than when they left the farm. Good transport welfare requires minimising journey duration, avoiding mixing unfamiliar pigs, maintaining appropriate temperatures, providing adequate rest and recovery at the slaughter plant, and training drivers in animal welfare practices. These interventions are known and achievable — the barrier is primarily cost and regulatory enforcement.