Positive welfare science is documenting joy-like and play states in pigs, moving beyond absence-of-harm to genuine positive experience as the welfare benchmark.
The documentation of positive emotional states in pigs — including joy-like play, optimistic expectation, and enrichment-induced exploration — has important implications for welfare standards and assessment. A welfare standard focused only on preventing pain, illness, and fear misses the equally important dimension of positive experience. Pigs that never play, never explore novel environments, and never engage in positive social interactions are welfare-deprived even if physically healthy. The development of positive welfare indicators — validated behavioral and physiological markers of good affective states — enables assessment of whether farming systems are actually providing positive lives rather than merely preventing the worst harms. Consumer and retailer demand for evidence of positive welfare indicators, not just absence of negative outcomes, would drive the most meaningful industry change.