we have licensed butchers as well as a license to operate our own slaghterhouse/abbatoir; so what I describe below is our approach, and I can’t speak for other lechon purveyors:

Our pigs are purchased from backyard purveyors and spend their last few days or up to two weeks in airy and spacious pig pens, eating feed + organic fruits and veggies whenever possible (they stay under huge chico trees)… When their time is up, the licensed butcher leads them out of the pen (and they know what is coming, I have to say), they are quickly held firmly and a sharp knife is used to sever their jugular vein. It happens incredibly swiftly and SHOULD be done by an experienced butcher. The pig is bled, then innards removed, skinned and washed inside and out. The pigs are then put on a bamboo pole, cavity stuffed and sewn up.

We do not inject the pig with any poison, nor stun it with an electric current. It sounds cruel, and I suppose killing anything, including a plant is cruel, but I must say the butchers respect the animals and it is done as “professionally” as can be. But no, I wouldn’t say the pigs died in peace. :(

how do you kill the pig before he gets roasted?

do you stab the pig? then when he dies, you insert the bamboo stick for him to get roasted? or do you inject some poison so pig dies in peace?

@Tracy: where did you order your suckling pig???

Uh, I’d better go lie down. I think I just got dizzy thinking how wonderfully this will hopefully turn out.