I Would Rather Die Than Have A Pig Heart Transplant

While obviously I see the benefit for humans, I feel this is a complete violation of the pigs — a companionate, intelligent species, sensitive to pain. How can this be moral?

Cambridge University researchers found that pigs are as smart as three-year-old children. They can learn sign language. They can follow logical processes, learn rules and even play computer games.

Pigs also develop strong bonds with humans and can recognise people they met years ago. They show deep emotions and traits such as trust, empathy and loyalty.

A famous example was when a domestic pig called Lulu saved the life of her carer, who had collapsed with a heart attack at her Pennsylvania home.

Lulu scraped her way out of the yard and lay down in the road opposite, bringing passing traffic to a halt. When a driver got out of his car, Lulu led him back into the home, where an ambulance was called.

These are bright, loving animals. Can we truly bring them into the world just to cut them up and take what we want?

The very fact that pigs’ hearts are so similar to ours, and can replace ours, shows how closely related we are.

You wouldn’t kill your little brother or sister for their organs, so why kill an animal cousin for theirs? Just because you can do something, that doesn’t mean it’s okay.

It’s easy to dismiss pigs as unimportant. If you think about it, humans have devised a whole vocabulary to diminish these animals. Dirty pigs, greedy pigs. Really though? It’s astonishing that humans have the cheek to associate pigs with greed when it’s clearly the greedy meat industry that crunches innocent lives into profit.