Recently, at The Vegan Society, we launched our Empathy Index project which aims to measure and track British attitudes towards different forms of non-human animal use.
The research behind this project involved a survey sent to 2000 UK adults using nationally representative sampling. Those taking the survey were asked to share their thoughts on 27 different kinds of animal use.
The data from our Empathy Index shows a mixed picture with certain forms of animal use such as animal fighting, hunting and animal testing being amongst the most unacceptable forms of animal use. The data from the Index also shows that certain forms of animal use such as horse riding, wearing wool, and certain types of animal based entertainment to be more acceptable.
The top 5 most unacceptable forms of animal use according to UK adults are dog fighting, bull fighting, fox hunting, animal testing (cosmetics) and hunting animals using traps.
The top 5 most acceptable forms of animal use according to UK adults are riding a horse, using animals in TV/films, wearing clothes made from sheep's wool, going to a zoo and horses used in policing.
The most divisive form of animal use is riding an elephant with 50% considering this an acceptable form of animal use and 50% considering this unacceptable.
On the topic of animal testing, there are some interesting findings which are encouraging for anti-animal testing campaigns:
· 84% of adults in the UK think that testing cosmetic ingredients on animals is unacceptable.
· 68% of adults in the UK think that testing medicine on animals in unacceptable.
On the topic of fashion, these are some statistics from the Empathy Index that fashion brands or those working on fashion-related campaigns will find useful:
· 71% of adults in the UK think that wearing clothes made from animal fur is unacceptable.
· 41% of adults in the UK think that wearing leather made from a cow’s skin is unacceptable.
· 16% of adults in the UK think that wearing clothes made from sheep’s wool is unacceptable.
For those opposed to hunting such as anti-hunting/snaring campaign groups, the index contains useful data:
· 86% of adults in the UK think that hunting foxes with dogs in unacceptable.
· 83% of adults in the UK think that hunting an animal using traps or snare is unacceptable.
· 74% of adults in the UK think that hunting a deer with a gun is unacceptable.
Head to The Vegan Society website to see the full results from our Empathy Index.
Today is World Day for the End of Speciesism! 🌎🐷🐶
To mark this date, we're pleased to announce the launch of our Empathy Index.
The Index aims to measure and track British opinions on different forms of non-human animal use. You can read the results at https://lnkd.in/e7eZ3Y5j
Scientific Director at Sciensano
1moI hope you found the visit to Sciensano research infrastructure interesting and insightful