Focus on mutilating procedures
The intervention carried out for reasons other than therapeutic or diagnostic purposes or for the identification of the pigs in accordance with Council Directive 2008/120/EC and resulting in damage to or the loss of a sensitive part of the body or the alteration of bone structure shall be prohibited
Exceptions according to Directive 2008/120/EC
		Advantages			Disadvantages for
Docking of a part of the tail		Prevents injuries to other animals; safety reasons			Pain and stress
Uniform reduction of corner teeth of piglets by grinding or clipping not later than the seventh day of the life of the piglets, leaving an intact smooth surface; boars’ tusks may be reduced in length where necessary		Prevents injuries to other animals; safety reasons			Pain and stress
Nose-ringing		Better practice when the animals are kept in outdoor husbandry systems			Pain and stress
Castration of male pigs (without anesthesia)		Cheap and fast; prevents “boar taint”			Extremely painful and stressful for pigs even several days after surgery
Proposed alternative procedures to castration
Castration with local anesthesia and analgesic	Castration with general anesthesia		Immunocastration	Embryo sexing		Genetic selection
Less stress and pain for the piglet compared to the traditional technique, but requires veterinary staff, and piglets show stress at the inoculation of drugs	No stress for pigs; more expensive; requires veterinary medical staff; piglets at risk of hypothermia upon waking up; requires hospitalization of at least 5 h		No pain or stress; the effectiveness of the vaccination plan and the quality of the meat need to be checked	Expensive and specialized		Selection of subjects with low androsterone production (decreased fertility and more expansive)
Any of the procedures described above shall only be carried out by a veterinarian or a person trained as provided in Article 6 of the Directive and experienced in performing the applied techniques with appropriate means and under hygienic conditions. If castration or docking of tails is practiced after the seventh day of life, it shall only be performed under anesthetic and additional prolonged analgesia by a veterinarian.