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U.K. Public Attitudes And Behaviours Toward Animal Welfare

Summary By: | Published: September 3, 2012
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EXTERNAL STUDY This is a summary of an external study
This article covers information on attitudes towards farmed animal and companion animal welfare from a report by the DEFRA on attitudes towards environmental issues.

This 2007 survey from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) summarizes what people in England think and how they behave across a range of issues relevant to the environment, including specifically farmed animal and companion animal welfare.

This survey, commissioned by Britain’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), addresses a number of issues including:

  • Environment
  • Climate change
  • Travel behavior and attitudes
  • Energy and water efficiency in the home
  • Reducing waste, reusing and recycling
  • Purchasing behaviors
  • Green spaces
  • Animal Welfare
  • Biodiversity
  • Wellbeing (of people)

Specifically, with respect to animal welfare, this survey addressed two major subject areas including farm animal welfare and companion animal welfare.

Farm Animal Welfare: Thought given to the issue of farm animal welfare (respondent base = 1,661):

  • A great deal (16%)
  • A fair amount (24%)
  • A little (37%)
  • Have not really given this issue any thought (22%)

Satisfaction with standards of farm animal welfare in the U.K.:

  • Happy with all aspects of farm animal welfare (4%)
  • Happy with most aspects of farm animal welfare (23%)
  • Happy with some aspects of farm animal welfare, unhappy with others (34%)
  • Unhappy with most aspects of farm animal welfare (9%)
  • Unhappy with all aspects of farm animal welfare (2%)
  • Don’t know (28%)

Of those who were happy with less than all aspects of farm animal welfare, half were “particularly concerned” about how animals are transported, and many were also concerned about exports of live farmed animals, how animals are kept on farms, and the conditions at slaughterhouses and abattoirs. Aspects of farm animal welfare that respondents are most concerned about:

  • How animals are transported (29%)
  • Exports of live farmed animals (20%)
  • How animals are kept on farms (29%)
  • Conditions at slaughterhouses (15%)

Companion Animal Welfare: How much thought respondents had given the issue of pet welfare (respondent base = 1,661):

  • A great deal (22%)
  • A fair amount (33%)
  • A little (28%)
  • Have not really given this issue any thought (16%)

Satisfaction with standards of pet welfare in the U.K.:

  • Happy with all aspects of pet welfare (5%)
  • Happy with most aspects of pet welfare (28%)
  • Happy with some aspects of pet welfare, unhappy with others (41%)
  • Unhappy with most aspects of pet welfare (7%)
  • Unhappy with all aspects of pet welfare (3%)
  • Don’t know (17%)

Aspects of pet welfare that respondents are the most concerned about (respondent base = 1,251, those concerned about aspects of pet welfare):

  • How people treat their pets (39%)
  • Monitoring and prosecution of cruelty (26%)
  • How well people understand how to look after their pets (20%)
  • The types of animals that are sold as pets (10%)
  • Conditions in pet shops (3%)
  • Other answers (1%)

Government Involvement in Animal Welfare: Whether respondents think the Government should be doing more about animal welfare:

  • Should do more than it does at the moment about animal welfare (57%)
  • Does enough as it is about animal welfare (33%)
  • Already gives too much attention to animal welfare (4%)
  • Don’t know (7%)
External Link:
https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/201301240431...
Meet the Author:
Faunalytics is a nonprofit research organization dedicated to helping animals by providing useful information to advocates to help them increase their impact.

Citations:

British Market Research Bureau (BMRB), Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (England), 2007 International

Tags:

Animals Used for Food Companion Animals Animal Cruelty Animal Slaughter Attitudes English Environment Factory Farming Living Conditions

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