Farm Animals

Farmed Pig Welfare: From Welfare to Flourishing

The ultimate welfare aspiration for pigs is not just absence of suffering but genuine flourishing - living well.

Key Facts

Five Domains model explicitly includes positive mental states as a welfare component
Positive welfare indicators including play, exploration, and positive social interaction indicate flourishing
Pigs in enriched systems show play rates that reflect genuine positive emotional states
The goal of pig welfare is lives worth living - not just lives less bad than the status quo

Welfare Considerations

The ultimate aim of pig welfare is not merely reducing suffering but enabling pigs to genuinely flourish. Flourishing pigs experience curiosity, joy, comfortable social bonds, and engagement with their environment. This aspirational standard motivates more ambitious welfare improvement than merely reducing the most acute welfare harms.

What You Can Do

Hold flourishing - not just reduced suffering - as your welfare standard for pigs
Support research into positive pig welfare and what constitutes genuine pig flourishing
Choose pork from systems that explicitly aim for positive welfare, not just absence of cruelty