The subjective experience
of animals: a comparison of humane investigators’ urban and rural residents’
perceptions
A.S. Moore, T.M. Waliczek,
P.I. Henson and J.I. Newcomb
Illinois State University,
Normal, USA
In Illinois, humane investigators are employed by, or approved by, the Illinois Department of Agriculture to determine whether there has been a violation of the Illinois Humane Care for Animals Act (P.A. 78905). During field investigations, humane investigators must consider what constitutes animal suffering in order to interpret existing humane laws aimed at preventing such suffering. It is becoming widely accepted that suffering includes not just physical injury or diseased states, but also the psychological state of the animal. Thus, human perceptions of the subjective experience of animals will likely influence the interpretation of humane laws. In order to characterize perceptions concerning the subjective experience of animals, a comprehensive questionnaire (reliability = 0.84) was developed and administered to all approved humane investigators within Illinois (n=76) along with representative samples of both rural and urban residents. Surveys were returned by 47.4% (n=36) of humane investigators, 16.6% (n=57) of urban respondents and 24.1% (n=47) of rural respondents. Respondents from all three segments surveyed indicated that space allocation, social contact and fulfillment of emotional needs are important considerations pertaining to animal suffering. Perceptions concerning the relative importance of social contact in cats, dogs, horses, cattle and swine differed between humane investigators versus urban or rural respondents (P<0.05). Compared to perceptions from rural or urban respondents, humane investigators perceived that it is more important for dogs and horses to be housed with a companion of the same species (P<0.05). Perceptions of humane investigators concerning the subjective experience of companion animals differed significantly from those of rural and urban respondents. A significantly greater percentage of humane investigators (P<0.01) indicated that horses experience boredom (88.9%), happiness (86.1%) and loneliness (91.7%) compared to urban (56.1%, 63.2% and 66.7%, respectively) or rural respondents (30.4%, 63.0% and 50.0%, respectively). A significantly greater percentage of humane investigators (P<0.01) indicated that cattle (84.8%) and swine (87.9%) experience loneliness compared to urban (55.8% and 55.8%, respectively) or rural respondents (36.8% and 31.6%, respectively). In conclusion, perceptions held by humane investigators concerning the subjective experience of animals differed from those of both urban and rural respondents. Additional research is necessary to determine how these differences might influence the interpretation of humane laws.