Here at OneKind, we love pigs … well, we love all animals of course, but today we are appreciating these cute, clever and complex creatures.

Though pigs may have many adorable and admirable attributes, they are often misunderstood and connected to negative connotations around unclean, sedentary or oafish – which couldn’t be further from the truth!

Will you join us in standing up for pigs?

This year, we have been advocating for cage-free, improved living conditions for sows and their piglets in Scotland with our Stand Up for Pigs campaign.

Now - in an incredible display of support - over 6,000 emails have been sent to the Scottish Government from our supporters, calling for a phased end to the use of farrowing crates for mother pigs.

Take action today

Within the confines of these cages, a sow can experience immense stress, frustration and painful abrasions to her skin. Behind the bars, a mother pig will be separated from her piglets and denied of exhibiting her natural maternal behaviours.

Pigs are sensitive, social and sentient beings. Today, we’ll set out to dispel some of the myths that surround these intelligent and fascinating creatures by getting to know the animals behind our campaign, and calling for your help to put an end to them suffering in cruel farrowing crates.

Pigs are actually some of the cleanest animals

One of the most common misconceptions is that pigs aren’t clean animals. Although many of us growing up will have heard our messy bedrooms being referred to as a ‘pigsty’, in fact, a pig’s natural environment would be kept a lot tidier (certainly more than mine ever was!).

When provided with a suitable environment, pigs will insist on separating their living and feeding areas from a space which they will use as a toilet. Even newly born piglets will strive to defecate away from where they are sleeping and nursing.

However, in the restrictive and barren conditions of a farrowing crate, neither the mother nor her piglets can adhere to the cleanliness they would naturally prefer. In a cage barely bigger than the sow herself, she is unable to turn around and may even struggle to stand up – therefore she is forced to feed her babies, sleep, eat and relieve herself where she lies - for weeks at a time, multiple times a year.

Did you know they are super smart? 

Let’s set the scene: you’re at a pub quiz and asked to name the smartest animals on the planet. Dolphins, elephants, dogs and monkeys may all come to mind…but did you consider pigs? They are ranked fifth amongst the smartest animals and are more trainable than dogs!

These clever creatures are brilliant problem solvers with the intelligence level of a toddler and, also like humans, they can dream. Further, pigs have excellent long-term memory, with piglets able to learn their name from as young as three weeks old.

And if – like myself – you often wonder what you would do without Google Maps in the palm of your hand, you can think of how incredible a pig’s sense of direction is. They are natural navigators and can find their way home from many miles afar.

 

Unfortunately, on industrial farms, there is little – if at all - enrichment or means for pigs to display this intelligence or enthusiasm to roam and forage for food (which is also beneficial for the soil!). Instead, a sow confined to a farrowing crate can endure mental suffering due to frustration and under-stimulation.

Pigs are social butterflies!

 

Did you know pigs are extroverts? There are few animals who are more social than pigs!

They can communicate with each other using different grunts, depending on the pig’s personality and the information being shared. Interestingly, it has been discovered that pigs use up to 20 varied vocalisations. These vocalisations can be rather loud, with a pig’s squeal reaching up to 115 decibels.

Although in many farms across the UK, where there will be rows upon rows of pigs in cages all under one roof, pigs prefer to live in families or small groups and like to sleep snout-to-snout with each other. The cramped and claustrophobic living conditions of factory farms can cause stress-related aggression amongst pigs, which is a far cry from their friendly disposition and sociable nature.

They are also incredibly expressive beings. Much the same as how dogs express their emotions with their tails, you can tell when a pig is happy when their tails are curly, and a stressed pig may tuck their tail between their legs. Sadly, one of the horrifying mutilations that is commonly inflicted on piglets is tail-docking - where their tails are cut off when they are just one to three days told. Fellow animal welfare organisation, Animal Equality UK, report that routine tail docking is carried out on over 70% of pig farms across the UK.

Sows make for incredibly caring mothers

As aforementioned, sows have strong maternal behaviours and are naturally protecting and loving mothers.

A piglet can recognise, respond and run to their mother’s voice and, sweetly, sows even sing to their babies.

Shortly before a mother pig gives birth, she will have a desire to build a nest for her piglets to keep them warm, using materials such as a straw.

Sadly, within a farrowing crate, the mother pig will be denied of this. Due to selecting breeding to ensure sows are heavier and birthing larger litter sizes, there is a real danger of mother pigs accidentally crushing their young, however it is a misconception that farrowing crates are the humane or affective solution to this.

In their mother’s nest, piglets would normally be kept warm but in these cages, they are reliant on heat lamps, which they may not find if they are weaker piglets in a large litter.

The cause of piglets passing away is often multi-factorial – a combination of hypothermia, starvation and crushing. Therefore, evidence shows that overall piglet deaths are lower in well managed free-farrowing and outdoor systems.

You can act now for these incredible animals

The senseless suffering to mother pigs and their babies within a farrowing crate system is unacceptable in modern day Scotland.

As detailed above, pigs are incredibly social and smart animals who each have unique personalities and complex behaviours. They should not be restricted to these cages in a barren, industrial factory farm environment. We can do better for pigs.

A majority of Scottish adults (67%) support an end to the use of farrowing crates.* 

We need your help to urge the Scottish Government to end the use of these cruel cages. By giving just minutes of your time to write to the Minister for Agriculture and Connectivity, Jim Fairlie, using our pre-written template, you can take action for pigs.

Please Stand Up for Pigs today

*All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc.  Total sample size was 1,055 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 6th - 10th November 2020.  The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all Scotland adults (aged 18+).