Surgical castration of male piglets without pain relief is standard practice in many countries despite causing acute pain and documented behavioral stress indicators.
Surgical castration without analgesia causes acute and post-procedural pain that is well-documented in peer-reviewed literature. Piglets subjected to this procedure show stress hormones, pain behaviors, and reduced feeding consistent with significant suffering. The availability of effective alternatives — immunocastration, raising entire males, or at minimum mandatory analgesia — makes the continued use of no-pain-relief surgery difficult to justify ethically.