Citizen Attitudes to Farm Animals in Finland: A Population-Based Study

Abstract

Citizen attitudes and opinions form an important driving force for improvements in the ethical status of farm animals in society. Hence, it is important to understand how attitudes to farm animals vary in society and what factors, mechanisms and social processes influence the development of these attitudes. In this study we examine the relative importance of socio-demographic background, animal related experiences and social-equality attitudes in the formation of attitudes to farm animals in Finland. The research is based on a nationwide survey (n = 1890). Our research findings suggest that female gender, young age, urban residency, a non-farming background and social-equality attitudes are linked to greater concern for farm animals. A farming background, valuing social equality, and gender have the strongest connections to farm animal attitudes, followed by age and place of residence. Having a companion animal and education level have a relatively modest connection to attitudes to farm animals. In order to accumulate comparative evidence of social-group differences in attitudes to farm animals, further research should continue to develop improved indicators for attitudes to farm animal welfare and rights. Moreover, explanations for social-group differences in citizen attitudes to farm animals should be subjected to further empirical testing.

Consumers’ Concerns and Perceptions of Farm Animal Welfare

“…Voting, writing letters to politicians and media, and participation in associations are some of the common citizen behaviors [50,61]. Changing attitudes, behaviors, and opinions could form an important driving force for improvements in the ethical status of farm animals in society [23]. Consumers, on the other hand, have an influence in the marketplace because they can change their buying behavior or refuse to buy products from systems with some aspects they do not like [42].…”

“…Attitudes and willingness to pay for welfare-friendly products also differed with socio-demographic characteristics, with a high degree of consensus among the reviewed literature supporting that women, younger participants, pets owners, and those who had spent longer in education and had higher income rates demonstrated the highest levels of concern and were most likely to be willing to pay for welfare-friendly products [20][21][22][23]26,30,31,[33][34][35]62,68,80,[99][100][101][102][103]. A study carried out in China reported no difference in gender, which may be explained by a deep-rooted cultural concept that animals should be respected as an essential part of society [34].…”

“…The percentage of citizens that considered that it is very important to protect the welfare of farmed animals increased from 34% to 57% between 2006 and 2015 [10,11]. Different studies have documented that the situation is very similar worldwide (EU [20][21][22][23], USA [24][25][26][27], Canada [28,29], Latin America [30][31][32][33], Asia [34], and Australia [35]), demonstrating that animal welfare concerns have become more important over the years, as was predicted by the authors of [36].…”

Bringing farm animal welfare to the consumer’s plate

“…These have covered issues such as beating animals, raising chickens in cages, animal abnormal behaviours and inhumane treatment in slaughtering, all of which are well-known issues in large-scale food production (e.g. Kupsala et al 2015). While these debates have led to increases in sales of organic and higher animal welfare products such as free-range eggs, the reality is that most meat continues to be produced intensively, where legislation and regulations define the welfare standards that are expected to be achieved.…”

“…Interestingly, almost half of consumers in the study questioned the reliability of information directed to consumers on choices promoting animal welfare. Furthermore, further research by Kupsala et al (2015) indicated that female gender, young age, urban residency, a nonfarming background as well as social-equality attitudes were all linked to greater concern for farm animals.…”