Pigs are highly intelligent animals with complex behavioural needs. Environmental enrichment is not a luxury but a fundamental welfare requirement increasingly mandated by law.
The evidence for pig enrichment effectiveness is robust: pigs provided with straw, hessian sacks, compost, or other manipulable materials show dramatically lower rates of tail biting, aggression, and chronic stress indicators compared to those in barren systems. The welfare logic is straightforward — pigs are built for exploration and manipulation, and barren environments create intense frustration. Tail docking, practised routinely to prevent tail biting, treats the symptom rather than the cause and causes its own welfare harm. The EU enrichment mandate has been undermined by inadequate enforcement and vague standards that allow ineffective provision to be deemed compliant. Research by Teagasc, Wageningen, and Bristol universities has identified the characteristics of effective enrichment: materials must be destructible, rootable, and regularly renewed to maintain novelty.