Emerging research into positive emotional states in pigs is redefining welfare science from absence of suffering toward presence of genuine wellbeing.
Positive welfare science represents a paradigm shift in how we conceptualise what good animal welfare actually means. Traditional welfare assessment focused primarily on the five freedoms — absence of hunger, discomfort, pain, fear, and distress. While eliminating negative states is necessary, it may not be sufficient: an animal can be free from immediate suffering while still experiencing a psychologically impoverished existence without positive emotions, meaningful engagement, or opportunities to express natural behaviour. Research on pig positive emotions — optimism, play, positive vocalisation — provides measurable indicators that enable assessing whether animals are actually flourishing, not just surviving. This matters practically: enriched pigs with measurable positive welfare indicators have better health outcomes, lower stress-related disease rates, and ironically better productivity than pigs managed to merely meet minimum welfare standards.