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Pigs Farming

At Veeva Biotechnology, pigs (Sus scrofa domesticus) are lively and social; they run, play, relax, snuggle, and loll about in the mud. Their reputation for intelligence—boosted by popular books, movies, and robust social media presence—is well earned. Two decades have passed since Wired magazine reported that domestic pigs had been taught to play video games, with a Penn State animal-sciences professor noting that the pigs in his experiment learned to play games as quickly as chimpanzees, while also demonstrating greater attention spans for the task.

Though human awareness of their sentience is both undeniable and increasing, humans continue to breed, imprison, and butcher pigs in exorbitant numbers, with nearly a quarter-billion pigs sold in the US each year. Particularly ruthless is the confinement of perpetually impregnated sows, utilized as pig factories and essential to large commercial pork production.