Summary of What is a Pig Worth?

Overview of What is a Pig Worth?

This Radiolab episode follows animal-rights activist Wayne Hsiung (the transcript spells his surname inconsistently) as he stands trial in Utah after breaking into a Smithfield pig farm and rescuing two sick piglets. What begins as a burglary/theft case becomes a larger meditation on animal suffering, legal value, property, morality, and how the law decides what animals “are.” The trial exposes a deep contradiction: Wayne argues the piglets were worth saving as living beings, while also trying to prove they had no monetary value so he couldn’t be convicted of theft.

The Story at a Glance

Wayne’s early turning point

• As a child, Wayne grew up isolated and found unconditional love in his family dog, Vivian.
• On a trip to China, he saw a dog in a restaurant that was being prepared for food and realized that “not everything I’m taught is right.”
• That moment shaped the rest of his life: he became vegan, studied law, and eventually co-founded Direct Action Everywhere, an animal-rights group that films factory farms and stages rescues.

The farm rescue and legal case

• In 2017, Wayne and activists entered a Smithfield facility in Utah and took two piglets, later named Lily and Lizzie.
• A New York Times-published video from the raid showed disturbing conditions inside the farm.
• Smithfield denied mistreatment, called police, and Wayne was charged with:
  • Two counts of burglary
  • One count of felony theft

The Core Legal Question: What Is a Pig Worth?

Why Wayne’s defense was so unusual

• Wayne represented himself in court.
• His strategy was to force the jury to confront the suffering of the piglets and the broader question of animal value.
• But for the theft charge, he also needed to argue that the piglets had no measurable value—or even negative value—because saving them would have cost more than their market worth.

“Negative value” argument

• A veterinarian testified that the piglets were in such poor condition they likely had less than a 5% chance of survival.
• Treatment would have cost around $315, while a 10–12 pound piglet was valued at roughly $40.
• Wayne argued that, financially, the piglets were worth less than zero at the time they were taken.

The judge and jury struggle with “value”

• The judge repeatedly blocked Wayne from talking about farm conditions, saying the farm itself was not on trial.
• Even the photos and video were sanitized for the jury, including paper cutouts of piglets.
• The jury had to decide what “value” meant:
  • Economic value to Smithfield
  • Inherent/moral value as living creatures capable of suffering
• This became the heart of the episode’s central question:
  Is an animal property, a being with some protections, or something closer to a person?

The Three Legal Ways Animals Are Viewed

The episode lays out a simple framework used by animal-law scholars:

1. Animals as property

   • They are owned and used by humans.

2. Animals as property that matter to humans

   • Pets, work animals, etc. are protected because humans benefit from them.

3. Animals with something like rights or equality

   • Rare in law, but closer to how we think about humans.

The show emphasizes that real animals can fall into multiple categories depending on context:

• A rabbit may be a pet, a lab subject, game, or food.
• A dog can be considered a family member in one case and property in another.
• That inconsistency is exactly what Wayne’s case exposes.

Verdict and Aftermath

Trial outcome

• The jury was split and deliberated for hours.
• They ultimately found Wayne:
  • Not guilty of burglary
  • Not guilty of theft

Why they acquitted

• The burglary charge fell apart because intent was ambiguous.
• For theft, the jury struggled with the value question.
• Some jurors felt the piglets had moral value as living beings, while others focused on the legal instructions and property logic.
• The judge’s refusal to define value left the decision to the jury.

What changed afterward

• The case did not create major legal precedent.
• In Utah, lawmakers later passed a law preventing defendants from arguing that sick or dying animals were “worthless” as a theft defense.
• Prosecutors and companies also became more likely to use trespass charges instead of theft, avoiding the value debate altogether.

What Happened to Lily and Lizzie?

• After the rescue, the piglets were taken to a sanctuary and recovered.
• Months later, some jurors visited them.
• The story ends with a striking image: the rescued pigs, now huge and healthy, with white skin that could burn in the sun, resting in the shade.

Key Takeaways

• The episode uses one criminal case to explore a much bigger issue: how society assigns value to animals.
• Wayne’s trial shows the tension between:
  • Legal categories like property and theft
  • Moral reality like suffering and rescue
• The jury’s confusion wasn’t a flaw in the story—it was the point.
• The case suggests animal law is slowly shifting, but the legal system still struggles to answer a basic question:
  When is an animal just property, and when is it something more?

Notable Insight

• The episode’s central paradox: Wayne had to argue that the piglets were worth saving morally but worthless economically to avoid conviction.
• That contradiction reveals how awkward and unresolved the law still is when it comes to animals.