In 1386, in Falaise, Northern France, a pig was executed in a public trial.
Pigs were often brought to trial for various offenses. The cause was not their character but rather their free roaming as "waste disposers" in the streets. Often, humans and animals lived closely together, even sharing sleeping quarters on cold nights. This proximity frequently led to conflicts. A famous incident occurred in Falaise, France, in the year 1386. A sow bit off a baby's arm and parts of its face, resulting in the child's death. The pig was sentenced to death by first having one leg torn off before being hung on the gallows until it died. City pigs were brought as spectators to the execution to deter them from committing their own offenses.
