If we could just stop thinking of them as bacon, pigs could help us

The say a dog is man’s best friend.

But perhaps a pig would be even better, if we could just stop thinking of them as food.

How interesting that a 100pound (45 kg) miniature pot-bellied pig named Jackie is recognized as Kitchener’s only known service pig, and therefore allowed to live in a private home in the city.

Jackie lives with her owner in a basement apartment in inner-city Kitchener. The landlord is happy with the arrangement, city councillors were told, and the yard is fenced.

Jackie is healthy, housebroken and helpful to her owner, who suffers from anxiety and depression. The owner also has a letter from his doctor attesting to his need for the animal.

How progressive of city councillors that they voted unanimously to make an exception to the bylaw and recognize the pig as a service animal.

It is dogs we think of first in this role, of course. Trained service dogs are a boon to people with visual impairment.

We’re also beginning to understand how helpful they can also be at, for example, bringing medication regularly, or reassuring a traumatized person as he or she gets through the day.

But perhaps pigs could do even better than that, if we would just give them a chance. After all, Jackie can ring a bell when she wants her owner to open the door.

The study of pig cognition is new, but fertile. Researchers have discovered that pigs can jump hoops, bow and stand, make wordlike sounds on command, and close and open cages.

They can even play video games with joysticks.

Some years ago, a study in the journal Animal Behaviour presented evidence that pigs could understand how mirrors work. When exposed to mirrors, pigs explore them. They check their reflections from different angles and check behind them. When a bowl of food was reflected in the mirror, they used their knowledge of the mirror to find the food.

Physically, too, pigs are close to humans. Their hearts, metabolism and teeth are like ours.

When I was at a local slaughterhouse once, researching a story, I noticed that during processing, the pigs’ pancreases were carefully collected and set aside. They are so similar to human pancreases that they are used in diabetes research.

Animal rights activists have long asked why so many of us think it is perfectly fine to eat a piglet, when the idea of someone killing and eating a puppy fills us with revulsion.

That’s an interesting question with a few clues.

If we see animals as highly intelligent — think of chimpanzees and dolphins — we hate the idea of eating them. Same goes for cats, dogs, or horses, which we see as companions.

Researchers are showing us that pigs are far more intelligent than many of us thought.

And Kitchener council just took a giant step toward increasing public understanding of their potential as companion animals.

A few years from now, we may look back on our practice of raising pigs in tiny cages, and shipping them to slaughterhouses in metal trucks, and wonder how we could ever have been so wrong.