Positive welfare science for pigs focuses on identifying and promoting good states - play, exploration, and positive social interaction - not just minimizing negatives.
Positive welfare science moves beyond deficit models that define welfare only as absence of suffering, recognizing that animals have capacity for genuine positive experiences that good welfare systems should actively promote. For pigs, this means ensuring opportunities for play, exploration, rooting, and positive social interaction - not just eliminating pain and frustration. Enriched environments that provide these opportunities create measurably better lives for pigs, not merely acceptable ones. This perspective transforms welfare standards from minimum thresholds to aspirational targets.