Tail biting causes severe welfare harm and is a persistent problem in commercial pig farming. Addressing root causes through enrichment, environment, and management is more effective than reactive interventions.
Tail biting is perhaps the clearest indicator of the welfare inadequacy of standard commercial pig production. It is a behavioral welfare emergency - pigs biting each other's tails obsessively represent animals in a chronically inadequate environment seeking behavioral outlet in misdirected aggression. The regulatory response - permitting tail docking when risk is present - addresses the symptom while leaving the cause, the inadequate environment, in place. The welfare-positive response addresses the environment: providing rooting substrate, reducing stocking density, improving ventilation, and eliminating the conditions that drive the behavior. This is harder and more expensive than docking, which is why it has not been universally adopted. But the welfare argument is clear: preventing the behavior by meeting welfare needs is superior to preventing the injury by removing the target.