From the backyard, through the farm, to the laboratory - changes in human attitudes to the pig

Reinhard Huber; I. Anna S. Olsson; Mickey Gjerris; Peter Sandøe

From the backyard, through the farm, to the laboratory - changes in human attitudes to the pig

In: Sustainable food production and ethics

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Reinhard Huber

Reinhard Huber ¹IBMC - Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular. Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre 823, 4150-180 Porto, Portugal

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I. Anna S. Olsson

I. Anna S. Olsson ¹IBMC - Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular. Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre 823, 4150-180 Porto, Portugal
²Danish Centre for Bioethics and Risk Assessment, University of Copenhagen, Rolighedsvej 25, DK-1958 Frederiksberg C, Denmark

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Mickey Gjerris

Mickey Gjerris ²Danish Centre for Bioethics and Risk Assessment, University of Copenhagen, Rolighedsvej 25, DK-1958 Frederiksberg C, Denmark

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, and

Peter Sandøe

Peter Sandøe ²Danish Centre for Bioethics and Risk Assessment, University of Copenhagen, Rolighedsvej 25, DK-1958 Frederiksberg C, Denmark

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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 239–243

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.3920/9789086866168_040

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Over its at least 9000 years of common history with humans, the pig has moved out of the pigsty, into the farrowing crate or fattening pen of the pork production industry, and more recently into the laboratory, where it is a standardized model animal. Likewise, human attitudes have shifted: pigs were once regarded almost as family members, then as production units, and then as pivots in the development of new medical treatments. The way we view animals doubtless influences the way we treat them. The intensification of farm animal production has lead to a devaluation of the individual animal. After an introduction to the different roles of the pig, in this paper we discuss whether the increased economic and scientific value of the research model pig may result in its acquisition of elevated status and better treatment. Possible arguments are that humans will treat pigs better the more they contribute to our welfare (out of gratitude), the closer we see them as being to us, or simply to compensate for the wrongs we do to some of them. However, given the human tendency to fit animals to our own purposes, it is questionable whether an increased perception of individuality will improve the treatment and welfare of pigs in general.

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Sustainable food production and ethics

E-Book ISBN:: 9789086866168

Publisher:: Wageningen Academic

Print Publication Date:: 30 Oct 2007

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- Life Sciences

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From the backyard, through the farm, to the laboratory - changes in human attitudes to the pig

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Sustainable food production and ethics

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