As someone who has lived with pigs for the last 13 years, I have to say they never fail to amuse, delight and most of all, impress me. Whether it was the litter of piglets who resided in our living room last winter for several months or the 5 bachelor boys currently in residence out in the barn, pigs are part and parcel of the farm. Hard to imagine life without them.
As someone who has given her heart and soul long ago to animals as fellow travelers on this crazy planet, I have watched with dismay, trepidation but also now growing hope that science can grope its way towards a richer, fuller understanding of animals. In various projects around the world, I see kindred spirits at work trying to take a scientific approach to what their hearts already tell them.
So I am always thrilled to see science that is imaginative, pushing limits, asking new questions. When the information about Playing With Pigs came across my desk this morning, I was ecstatic!
If you care about animal/human relationships, Playing With Pigs is a must see, must think about.
Perhaps what I love most about this project is that someone cared enough to watch pigs, seek to understand them, and notice how the pigs engage with and notice their world. An old concept - umwelt - put into practice. As it should every day with any animal (or person) with whom we engage.
Now to figure out how to get John to build our pigs their own light show!
