Could an App Change the Way We See Pigs?

You’ve played Words With Friends, but what about lights with pigs? A new app called “Pig Chase” puts players finger-to-snout with real pigs on farms.

A player moves a ball of light on the screen, and the light is displayed on a large touch-sensitive panel in the pig’s pen. The human player can see the pig’s snout as it touches the screen. The human player must use his or her fingers to keep the ball of light near the pig’s snout in order to help the pig move the ball of light into a goal triangle with his or her snout. When successful, the pig is treated to a bright, colorful light display. 

Pig Chase was designed to help satisfy a European Union directive requiring farmers to provide pigs with entertainment to lessen the stress that causes pigs to attack each other in cramped factory-farm conditions.

While a game can’t change the intensive confinement, multiple mutilations, and filthy conditions to which pigs are subjected on factory farms, perhaps it will help people start to see pigs for the bright, inquisitive animals they are and help pigs pass the time. People may start to realize that if we wouldn’t eat the dog we play fetch with, we shouldn’t eat the pig we play chase with. And that will make a big difference for pigs on farms.