Animal Care Webinar Summary: Ongoing Research On Public Perception

By Heidi Carroll

On July 1st, Dr. Candace Croney, Director of Purdue University’s Center for Animal Welfare Science shared some survey findings on Public Perception and Communication of Animal Welfare from ongoing research at Purdue and elsewhere.

With any sensitive topic, people have different opinions and varying levels of reactions to the topic. When it comes to animal welfare, various groups of people tend to be more concerned about welfare than others. These groups included women, younger people, those with few children or lower incomes, and both those with higher and lower education levels. Additionally, pet owners and democrats were also found to be more concerned about welfare. The Millennial generation continues to hold the spotlight and has a higher tendency toward environmental concern, communication, and activism with an attitude of wanting to change the world. Midwesterners on the other hand were less concerned and tended not to have an information source for welfare topics.

In the 2015 Gallup poll, when asked what level of protection animals deserve, 62% of respondents said animals need some protection, but 32% said animals need the same rights as people. This percent of people that consider animals equal to humans is alarming and becomes a challenge in researching welfare and communicating the current level of care animals receive.

Another interesting finding was that in the past 3 years, 14% of all respondents decreased their pork consumption (average reduction of 56%) due to animal welfare concerns, mostly housing type and not due to concerns about painful procedures.

Dr. Croney elaborated on the concept that food is more than just sustenance, it has become a social justice issue. Food and how we get our food is tied to our value system, not just science. Social justice is the equitable distribution of economic, political and social opportunities and rights. Some of the consumer challenges she discussed included:

• The dilemma of: who is perceived as an expert on animal welfare? Who is perceived as an expert on social justice?
• Consumers using animal welfare as a food safety indicator.
• Consumers are continually bombardment with confusing or contradicting information.
• Consumers’ welfare concerns or dislikes are animals in boxes, cutting bits/parts off animals, and animals in pain/distress.
• Consumers are relatively unaware of actual efforts going on to address welfare (i.e. research, education).

Dr. Croney also addressed some of the challenges that agricultural industries involved in food animal production encounter in the realm of animal welfare.

• Consumers perceive larger scale production equals poorer ethics.
• Industry needs to reassure consumers about on-farm practices.
• Media shapes perceptions.
• Consumer perceptions are more sensitive to negative than to positive information.
• Consumers desire ethical discussion not just facts.
• Polarizing and conflicting messages used in restaurant or brand marketing can raise questions about husbandry practices in other marketed products.

In conclusion, old approaches to connect with the public (i.e. educate the public, reframe the problem – feed the world, and changing the language of practices – harvest vs. kill) about animal welfare issues are not necessarily successful because they do not address the ethical side of what is becoming a social justice issue instead of a scientific animal care issue.