Tail biting in pigs causes painful injuries and death, driven by the barren environments of industrial pig farming, and is addressed with the harmful practice of routine tail docking rather than root causes.
Tail biting represents a welfare crisis with two layers. The biting itself causes severe, painful wounds that become infected and can lead to death. But the response - routine tail docking - is itself a painful mutilation that causes immediate pain and, in some pigs, persistent pain from damaged nerve endings. The underlying cause - barren, overcrowded environments that prevent natural rooting and foraging behavior - is the actual problem. Addressing the root cause through enrichment provision prevents tail biting without any mutilation, but requires farm management changes that the industry has been slow to implement.