Research into positive emotional states in pigs reveals that good welfare is not merely the absence of suffering but requires conditions that enable positive experiences.
The science of positive pig welfare represents a significant conceptual advance: welfare is not merely the reduction of suffering but requires conditions that enable positive emotional experiences. A pig that is not ill, not injured, and not in pain may still have poor welfare if living in an environment so barren, restrictive, or socially disrupted that it cannot experience play, curiosity, social pleasure, or the satisfaction of natural behavior completion. This understanding shifts welfare assessment from measuring bad things to also measuring good things — and it shifts the obligation on farmers from avoiding harm to actively creating conditions for positive experience. Pigs capable of play, exploration, and positive social interaction are experiencing genuinely good welfare, not merely acceptable welfare.