Australian-first survey reveals nation’s attitudes towards animal protection

Most Australians agree that farmed animals need to be better protected. Elise Burgess shares this and other results from the first comprehensive and longitudinal survey of animal-related opinions and behaviour in Australia.

In a first for Australia, Voiceless has commissioned US-organisation Humane Research Council (HRC) to bring their comprehensive Animal Tracker survey to Australia.

While the survey revealed a surprising mix of attitudes, a clear opposition to some factory farming practices was evident.

In a telling result, respondents were overwhelmingly in support of better protection for farmed animals with a massive 78% of people in favour of ensuring farm animals have access to the outdoors.

This flies in the face of the dominance of factory farming in the pig and chicken industries, and demonstrates that Australians are opposed to the prolonged suffering caused by intensive farming methods such as sow stalls and battery cages.

HRC’s Animal Tracker Australia is the first comprehensive and longitudinal survey of animal-related opinions and behaviour in Australia. Surveying 1,000 Australian adults, the survey provides in-depth insights into Australian attitudes towards animal protection issues including factory farming, hunting, live export and meat consumption.

Specifically, the survey found:

• 77.9% support laws requiring farmed pigs have access to the outdoors
• 76.5% support laws requiring caged egg-laying hens have access to the outdoors
• 76% support laws requiring chickens raised for meat have access to the outdoors

This research tells us that Australians are overwhelmingly in support of better protection for farmed animals, and it sends a clear message that consumers do not want to buy into animal suffering.

Other survey results were not so clear, especially misperceptions around kangaroo welfare within the commercial industry, with most survey respondents saying they do not know if the commercial kangaroo industry does enough to ensure that kangaroos do not suffer. As such, it is apparent that there is scope for improvement by animal advocates to better represent this issue and other animal welfare issues in the public domain.

Interestingly, it was purchasing decisions where most survey respondents were most active, with concern for animals causing a majority of Australians to buy meat and dairy products with higher welfare labelling and buy products labelled “not tested on animals”.

Additional Animal Tracker Australia report key summary points:

• Australians generally agree that animals are sentient and that people are obliged to avoid harming them, but they have mixed beliefs about kangaroos and farmed animals.
• Most Australians consider themselves at least somewhat aware of various animal issues and most also consider the wellbeing of animals to be very important.
• Half of Australians think incorporating humane education into schools is very important.
• The vast majority of Australians believe that the wellbeing of animals exported overseas for food is important. Additionally, they are more likely to say that current laws for exported animals are “inadequate” than to say they are “adequate.”
• Australians believe that the most credible sources of information about animals are NGOs authorised to inspect and enforce animal legislation (such as the RSPCA and Animal Welfare League), as well as farmers and agriculturalists. Animal protection groups and academics/scientists are also highly credible.

Download the Humane Research Council Animal Tracker Australia report here. The survey will continue over the coming years to track the development of Australian attitudes towards key animal protection issues.