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Students’ attitudes to animal welfare and rights in Europe and Asia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

CJC Phillips ,
S Izmirli ,
SJ Aldavood ,
M Alonso ,
Bl Choe ,
A Hanlon ,
A Handziska ,
G Illmann ,
L Keeling  and
M Kennedy
...Show all authors
CJC Phillips*
Affiliation:
Centre for Animal Welfare and Ethics, School of Veterinary Science, University of Queensland, Gatton 4343, Queensland, Australia
S Izmirli
Affiliation:
Centre for Animal Welfare and Ethics, School of Veterinary Science, University of Queensland, Gatton 4343, Queensland, Australia Department of History of Veterinary Medicine and Deontology, University of Selcuk, Turkey
SJ Aldavood
Affiliation:
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tehran, Iran
M Alonso
Affiliation:
Department of Animal Production, University of Leon, Spain
Bl Choe
Affiliation:
Department of Bioethics, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea
A Hanlon
Affiliation:
School of Agriculture, Food Science and Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin, Republic of Ireland
A Handziska
Affiliation:
AgroWeb Farm Animal Welfare Network, ul Naroden front br13/45, 1000 Skpoje, Macedonia
G Illmann
Affiliation:
Institute of Animal Science, Department of Ethology, Prague, Czech Republic
L Keeling
Affiliation:
Department of Animal Environment and Health, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
M Kennedy
Affiliation:
Department of Life Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK
GH Lee
Affiliation:
Graduate School of Veterinary Medicine, Konkuk University, Seoul, Korea
V Lund
Affiliation:
National Veterinary Institute, Oslo, Norway
C Mejdell
Affiliation:
Fond SFS Center for Education, Research and Consulting in Agriculture, Novi Sad, Serbia
VR Pelagic
Affiliation:
Fond SFS Center for Education, Research and Consulting in Agriculture, Novi Sad, Serbia
T Rehn
Affiliation:
Department of Animal Environment and Health, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
*
* Contact for correspondence and requests for reprints: c.phillips@uq.edu.au
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Abstract

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A survey of attitudes towards the welfare and rights of animals was conducted in universities in 11 European and Asian countries, to improve understanding of cultural differences that might impact on trade and international relations. Collaborators’ universities were recruited in each country to assist in the design, translation and administration of the survey via the internet in a convenient selection of the country's universities, providing 3,433 student responses from at least 103 universities. Respondents rated the acceptability of 43 major concerns about animals (focused on type of use, animal integrity, killing animals, animal welfare, experimentation on animals, changes in animal genotypes, the environment for animals and societal attitudes towards animals). Students from European countries had more concern for animal welfare than students from Asian countries, which may be partly explained by increased affluence of European students as there was a positive correlation between student expenditure and concern for animal welfare and rights. Southern and central European countries had most concern for animal rights and unnatural practices. Those in communist or former communist countries in Asia and Europe had most concern about killing animals and those in northern European countries the least. Regional similarities between neighbouring countries were evident in responses to animal issues and there were no differences between ethnic groups within a country. Thus, there were national and continental differences in European and Asian students’ attitudes to animals’ welfare and rights, which appear to arise as a result of the socio-political situation in regions rather than religious or other differences.

Keywords

animalsanimal welfareAsiacultureEuropenation
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Welfare , Volume 21 , Issue 1 , February 2012 , pp. 87 - 100
Copyright
© 2012 Universities Federation for Animal Welfare

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