Routine tail docking of piglets is performed to prevent tail biting in intensive systems. The welfare evidence challenges this approach and supports addressing root causes instead.
Tail docking represents the welfare paradox of treating one welfare harm (tail biting) by imposing another (amputation pain and potential chronic neuroma pain). The welfare solution is addressing the root causes of tail biting - inadequate space, poor enrichment, nutritional deficiencies - rather than removing the target of the biting. This requires investment in better housing conditions that the industry has often been unwilling to make. The continued routine docking despite EU prohibition reflects a regulatory enforcement failure that prioritizes industry convenience over both the welfare of individual piglets and the welfare imperative of improving housing standards. Countries that have successfully phased out routine docking demonstrate that it is commercially viable.