Male piglets are routinely castrated in order to avoid the risk of a small percentage of them developing «boar taint», which is found to be unpleasant by a small proportion of consumers. Pig castration done without pain relief is going to be banned.
650.000 piglets annually
Every year approx. 95% of male piglets (650.000 individuals) are routinely castrated in Norway without any pain relief. This painful procedure was performed by the farmer without any kind of analgesia.
The parliament decided on the 8th of March to ban pig castration without pain relief. The ban will enter into force from the beginning of 2009.
Pig castration by vets only
Only veterinarians will be permitted to castrate pigs, and only with appropriate analgesia. This requirement will enter into force already in 2002.
The powerful pig industry and their allies lobbied intensely to stop the proposal or delay it indefinitely. They argued that the costs of forbidding castration would be astronomical, stating figures in the tens of millions of Euros.
The Norwegian Animal Protection Alliance argued that these claims were vastly exaggerated and undocumented. Instead the Norwegian Animal Protection Alliance was able to document that Denmark had stopped castrating pigs for several years without any significant problems for the industry.
The Norwegian Animal Protection Alliance worked closely with a number of organisations, politicians and scientists, and was represented at the parliamentary hearing on the issue.
The Norwegian Animal Protection Alliance has worked hard to stop painful pig castration, and consider this new development a great victory for the animals. Norway´s pioneering ban will hopefully contribute to the introduction of similar bans in other countries.
