The existence of pigs has been dated to earlier than 11,400 years ago in Cyprus.  Most pigs have rather a bristled sparse hair covering on their skin, although woolly-coated breeds do exist.  The pig’s length ranges from about 1-1.8m. Adult pigs typically weigh between 50-350kg, with well-fed individuals even exceeding this range.

Pigs are highly intelligent, social creatures.  They are considered hypoallergenic and are known to do quite well with people who have the usual animal allergies. However caution must always be exercised! 

Given pigs are bred primarily as livestock and have not been bred as companion animals for very long, selective breeding for a placid or biddable temperament is not well established. Pigs have radically different psychology to dogs and exhibit fight-or-flight instincts, independent nature, and natural assertiveness which can manifest as aggression towards children and a tendency to panic and lash out with little warning.  That being said, our well-trained and socialised pigs here at The Animal Talent are capable of working with models and actors.  Some of the pigs we work with are trained therapy pigs, specialising in visiting care homes, schools and more.  

Cats generally are safe around pigs as neither species has an incentive to express aggression or fear towards the other, although dogs can view pigs as prey animals and in turn, pigs will challenge dogs for food, which can potentially lead to very violent fights.  Care must be taken with interspecies introductions.

In art, pigs have been represented in a wide range of media including pottery, sculpture, metalwork, engravings, oil paintings, watercolour and stained glass, from neolithic times onwards. 

Pig names are used as epithets for negative human attributes, especially greed, gluttony, and uncleanliness and these ascribed attributes have often led to critical comparisons between pigs and humans. “Pig” is used as a slang term for either a police officer or a male chauvinist, the latter term adopted originally by the women’s liberation movement in the 1960s.

Pigs have featured in children’s books since at least 1840, when Three Little Pigs appeared in print; the story has appeared in many different versions such as Disney’s 1933 film and Roald Dahl’s 1982 Revolting Rhymes. Even earlier is the popular 18th-century English nursery rhyme and fingerplay, “This Little Piggy”, seen also in film and literature such as the Warner Brothers cartoons A Tale of Two Kitties (1942) and A Hare Grows In Manhattan (1947), which use the rhyme to comic effect.

Two of Beatrix Potter’s “little books”, The Tale of Pigling Bland (1913) and The Tale of Little Pig Robinson (1930), feature the adventures of pigs dressed as people.  Several animated cartoon series have included pigs as prominent characters. One of the earliest pigs in cartoon was the gluttonous “Piggy“, who appeared in four Warner Brothers Merrie Melodies shorts between 1931-1937, most notably Pigs Is Pigs and the character was followed by Porky Pig, with similar habits. 

Piglet is Pooh’s constant companion in A. A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh stories and the Disney films based on them, while in Charlotte’s Web, the central character Wilbur is a pig who formed a relationship with a spider named Charlotte.  The 1995 film Babe humorously portrayed a pig who wanted to be a herding dog, based on the character in Dick King-Smith’s 1983 novel The Sheep Pig. Among newer takes on the classic Three Little Pigs is Corey Rosen Schwartz and Dan Santat’s 2012 The Three Ninja Pigs.

In general, pigs are lovable, comedic and yet intelligent.  In society, we tend to love pigs and think of them as cute, so much so that a craze for miniature breeds blossomed.  In the 1990s, the term “micro pig” was coined by the media, though this term is quite misleading. After one particular picture taken by Richard Austin was picked up by a national newspaper, miniature pigs have even been referred to as “teacup pigs”.  The average miniature piglet weighs just 250 grams at birth.  However, they soon grow to the size of a medium to large breed dog, so they don’t stay as tiny as people think.

Sizing issues considered, this sociable animal is a pleasure to have on set.  Pigs have emotive faces, funny characteristics and bags of personality; the filming opportunities are countless.  We particularly love to see pigs in comedy roles, though we also see pigs in background shots for rural and countryside locations and we’re also on hand for photographic reference animals for animation projects.  We’d love to see more pigs in TV and film featured roles and our talented pigs deserve it!

We supply professional animal location handlers around the world to ensure you get all the shots you require and, as overseers to ensure the wild is not disturbed, the crew will always be safe and no welfare regulations are ever breached.

It isn’t just the animals that are well trained, our team including our handlers are also highly experienced and fully qualified experts in the field. 

Your handler will take full control of any animals on set and ensure the entire shoot runs properly. They will also fully manage the welfare of all the animals both on and off set; the safety and welfare of the animals is their prime concern.  All of our handling is strictly force-free and only positive, reward based practices are deployed. This way you can have total confidence that by booking With The Animal Talent everything is taken care of legally, professionally and ethically.

The Performing Animals Licence is no longer relevant (it was scrapped in 2019) and has been replaced with the Animal Activity Licence, which we hold.

All of our pigs are covered by a £5 million Public Liability Insurance policy. 

All pigs require a County Parish Holding (CPH) number.  A movement order is also required from  eAML2 (the Electronic Pig Movement Service).  A walking licence from APHA is required if the pig is required to walk off site and handlers will carry veterinary records for the pigs on set (as is legally required).  Whilst this level of bureaucracy may feel daunting, it is important and our animal agents can process this for you once your requirements have been determined.

If any species of animal listed under the Dangerous Wild Animals Act are required, special measures will need to be put into place for the shoot. Precisely what is appropriate will vary species to species, but may include sectioned off areas where only trained handlers are allowed. In the event of large and dangerous carnivores, a specifically built green screen studio can also be supplied.