Positive welfare for pigs involves providing opportunities for pleasurable experiences, play behavior, and exploration that go beyond simply eliminating pain and distress in farming systems.
Positive welfare acknowledges that minimizing suffering is necessary but not sufficient for a good animal life. Pigs given access to enriched environments show genuinely positive behavioral indicators including play, exploration, and active engagement with their environment that reflect emotional wellbeing beyond mere absence of pain. In barren housing systems, even when physical health is maintained, pigs are deprived of experiences that constitute a good life for a highly intelligent, curious, and social animal. Positive welfare interventions including straw provision, novel objects, social housing, and outdoor access demonstrably improve welfare indicators and likely improve subjective wellbeing for housed pigs.