Perceptions of Agricultural Animal Welfare

How humans treat animals is a popular topic of focus for research in a variety of academic fields, is discussed in numerous college-level courses, shows up as an important subject in public opinion polls, and influences the platforms of political candidates vying for the support of voters who identify either with the interests of livestock producers or those who seek greater regulation of farms to protect the rights and welfare of animals. I use gender and distance from animals as indicators for understanding differences between men and women and those in rural and urban locations. The national level data used for this analysis came from the 2007 Survey of Food, Farming and the Environment: Focus on Farm Animal Welfare. My analysis showed that women were more concerned about animal welfare and are more likely to engage in behaviors that reflected these attitudes, and those from non-rural areas were more concerned for the welfare of agricultural animals; however, the results revealed mixed results for determining if those from rural or non-rural areas were more likely to engage in behaviors related to their attitudes about agricultural animal welfare than geographic proximity.