Growing scientific evidence for pig intelligence and emotional complexity has significant implications for how we evaluate pig welfare in current farming systems.
The cognitive and emotional sophistication of pigs makes current intensive farming practices particularly ethically problematic. Pigs in gestation crates cannot turn around, let alone engage in the rooting, exploration, and social behaviors their intelligence demands. Research showing that pigs display cognitive bias - optimistic or pessimistic expectations based on their welfare state - provides a rigorous scientific basis for welfare assessment that bypasses debates about anthropomorphism. These animals experience their confinement, and the welfare harm of denying intelligent, social animals meaningful behavioral expression is substantial.