Education / The Bodhi Project / Pigs
Pigs in the Pork Industry
Piglets stand inside a barren pen at a pig farm. In such facilities, they live on bare grated floors and are offered no enrichment, natural light, or outdoor access. Quebec, Canada, 2022. Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals
Content warning: The following images may be disturbing.
Click to reveal them and open your eyes. Photos credit: We Animals
The Pork Industry
The pork industry, one of the largest sectors of industrial agriculture, subjects pigs to immense physical and psychological suffering. These intelligent, social creatures, who are capable of forming complex bonds and experiencing a wide range of emotions, are treated as commodities rather than sentient beings. The industry starkly contradicts Buddhist ethical principles, particularly those related to non-harming, compassion, and right livelihood.
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A row of sows confined to sow stalls on an intensive pig farm. Each stall is barely larger than the sow herself. South Australia, Australia, 2014. Bear Witness Australia / We Animals
Gestation Crates
Among the most egregious practices is the use of gestation crates—small, metal cages that confine female pigs (sows) for most of their lives. The crates are typically just large enough for the sow to stand up and lie down, but not to turn around or engage in natural behavior such as walking, stretching, or rooting. Sows are often housed in these crates for the majority of their reproductive cycles—sometimes up to four years. During this time, they can experience muscle atrophy, severe abrasions, and psychological stress. The lack of mobility causes sores, particularly on their legs and shoulders, where they press against the metal bars for support. Confinement can lead to profound psychological stress, and to abnormal behaviors like self-mutilation or bar biting (where pigs chew on the bars of their cages out of frustration). Being prevented from behaving naturally, coupled with relentless physical and emotional strain, causes deep distress and suffering for the pigs.
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A sow sitting inside a bare slat-floored farrowing crate on an industrial pig farm looks out from between its metal bars. Since sows in these crates cannot turn around, can only stand or lie down and lack free contact with their young, they frequently bite or hit their heads on bars due to stress. Sows stay in these crates for several weeks, then undergo repeated insemination and piglet production cycles. Poland, 2021. Andrew Skowron / We Animals
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A dirt-covered sow confined with her piglets to a farrowing crate stares into the camera on an intensive pig farm. Her six-week confinement inside the crate is the extent of her time with her piglets. Victoria, Australia, 2017. Bear Witness Australia / We Animals.
Castration without Anesthesia
Male piglets are routinely castrated when they are just a few days old to prevent them from developing a "boar taint" (a strong odor that can result from high levels of testosterone). They are castrated without anesthetic, causing excruciating pain. This is a routine practice, justified by the industry as a means of ensuring higher meat quality. It clearly violates the principle of compassion (karuna), prioritising the enjoyment of tastier meat while causing unnecessary suffering for the animals.
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A piglet being castrated at factory farm in Poland. The procedure is done without anesthesia so one worker holds down the struggling, squealing piglet while the other makes an incision on the scrotum and pulls out the testes. Poland, 2020. Andrew Skowron / We Animals
Tail Docking and Tooth Clipping
In factory farms, piglets often have their tails docked and teeth clipped. Pigs kept in overcrowded and barren environments experience stress and chronic boredom, causing some to bite each other’s tails; the industry’s solution is to amputate their tails. Teeth clipping is done to prevent piglets from damaging their mother's teats during nursing, but is typically carried out without pain relief, violating pigs’ well-being for the sake of convenience.
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A worker at a factory farm in Poland removes the tail of a squeaking piglet. Poland, 2020. Andrew Skowron / We Animals
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A piglet's teeth are filed by a worker at an industrial farm in Poland. This is done to reduce injuries to other piglets and to the sow while the piglets nurse. Poland, 2020. Andrew Skowron / We Animals.
Thumping (Killing of Piglets via Blunt Force Trauma)
Perhaps the most disturbing practice in the pork industry is thumping—the killing of piglets by blunt force trauma, typically by lifting them by their hind legs and then slamming them against hard surfaces like concrete walls or floors repeatedly until dead or “damaged enough”. This is commonly done when piglets are deemed surplus or sickly, or when they fail to grow fast enough. Thumping is often carried out in a brutal and hasty manner, and can cause prolonged suffering for piglets who do not die instantly. Many are briskly thumped and then thrown on a pile with others, still twitching and seizing from the brain damage and broken skulls and bones, and left to die slowly amongst their siblings. There is rarely a sight more brutal and heartbreaking than this is animal agriculture. Mother pigs and live piglets are regularly witness to this atrocity, as it is done in the hallways in front of their conscious eyes and ears. Ending a living creature’s life in such a violent and inhumane manner clearly violates the Buddhist commitment to non-harming and protecting life.
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A piglet lies shaking and dying alone on a floor at a Canadian pig farm. At pig farms, it is typical to see sick or dying piglets left discarded on the floor in a room or hallway rather than being treated or euthanized. We do not know how long this dying piglet had been lying here when we encountered him. Quebec, Canada, 2022. Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals
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Numerous discarded dead piglets lie decomposing amid a puddle of blood and bodily fluids in a dumpster at an industrial pig farm. Quebec, Canada, 2022. Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals
Psychological and Physical Suffering
Beyond these specific practices, conditions within factory farms cause widespread psychological and physical trauma. Pigs are social creatures who naturally live in family groups and enjoy interacting with others, but in factory farms they are often confined in small, overcrowded pens. These conditions lead to stress-induced behaviors, including self-mutilation, aggression, and abnormal repetitive actions like pacing or circling: essentially, they are kept in conditions that drive them mad. Stress and trauma effects similar to PTSD are common in pigs kept in factory farms with no freedom to engage in natural behaviors. The emotional suffering these pigs experience is as profound as the physical pain they endure. Subjecting them to it violates the Buddhist principle of compassion.
Pigs are often kept in these conditions until they reach ‘market weight’, at which point they are sent to slaughter. Many are then transported to slaughterhouses in overcrowded, harsh conditions, where they face further physical trauma and stress before they are killed.
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A sow chews repetitively on the metal bars inside a gestation crate at an industrial pig farm. She and those beside her live confined inside bare, concrete-floored enclosures that are large enough only for them to sit, stand and lie down, but they cannot walk or turn around. Quebec, Canada, 2022. Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals.
Inhumane Slaughter
The slaughter of pigs is often a traumatic and brutal process. Electrical stunning is meant to render the pigs unconscious before they are killed, but is not always effective. In practice, many are inadequately stunned, adding to their pain and fear before they are killed. In some cases, pigs are stunned or killed by gassing—lowering them into a pit and forcing them to breathe carbon dioxide until they lose consciousness or die of suffocation. While this is claimed to be humane, studies show that it can cause severe distress, and witnesses report pigs screaming, thrashing and convulsing for minutes as they die.
The Buddhist practice of compassion (karuna) urges us to act in ways that reduce suffering, yet the brutality involved in the slaughter of pigs exemplifies an overwhelming disregard for the suffering these sensitive beings endure.
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Inside of a pig fattening factory farm. Murcia region, Spain, 2024. Selene Magnolia Gatti / We Animals
The Ethics of Meat Eating from a Buddhist Lens
The practices in the pork industry, as just one example of the meat industry, cannot be convincingly defended when viewed through the lens of Buddhist ethics. The First Precept commits us to abstain from causing harm, yet the systemic cruelty that pigs endure—from gestation crates to mutilations to slaughter—clearly conflicts with this. The Second Precept (abstaining from taking what is not given) also contradicts the practice of subjecting pigs’ bodies to mutilation and exploitation for profit, and their treatment as objects to be used rather than as living, feeling beings deserving of compassion. As mindful compassionate individuals we are obliged to question the deceptive practices within the pork industry. Marketing strategies often mask the cruelty inherent in factory farming, misleading consumers into believing that pork is produced humanely. In reality, the majority of pigs live in overcrowded, inhumane conditions, subjected to pain, fear, and deprivation. Lack of awareness of the suffering involved in the production of pork perpetuates a system of harm. Mindfulness encourages us to recognize the ethical implications of our choices, including the food we consume, and to take responsibility for the impact of those choices on all living beings.
Conclusion
By making mindful choices in our consumption, we can align our actions with the values of compassion, kindness, and respect for all life, and work toward a more ethical, compassionate world. By abstaining from eating meat of any kind and choosing a healthy plant-based diet, we remove our financial support from these harmful and heartless industries and in turn support food systems and companies that enable people to engage in right livelihood (samma-ajiva) - a livelihood that respects the safety and wellbeing of all sentient beings.
Happy visitors with rescued pigs at Farm Sanctuary. New York, USA, 2018. Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals
