Long-distance transport of pigs to slaughter causes significant stress, injury, and mortality, with research documenting welfare impacts that begin within hours of loading and accumulate throughout journeys.
Pigs during transport experience a cascade of stressors including loading anxiety, confinement, unfamiliar conspecifics, temperature extremes, motion sickness, and fear of handlers. Research documenting physiological stress markers shows that stress begins at loading and escalates over the journey. The fighting that erupts when unfamiliar pigs are mixed in transit causes wounds that bleed and become infected before the animals reach slaughter. Exhausted and injured pigs that cannot stand are called 'downers' and may be left without care or trampled. Long-distance journeys to slaughter plants - sometimes covering hundreds of miles - impose welfare costs that accumulate over hours. Low-stress handling techniques and shorter transport times demonstrably reduce stress and injury.