Tag: research

What happened in the world of animal protection last year?

Welcome to a new season of The Informed Animal Ally! Previous seasons have delved into the state of animal protection laws in Canada and B.C.; what a good life looks like for animals; specific areas that the Vancouver Humane Society works in; and foundational knowledge for animal advocates. This season will look at a macro view of the state of animal protection nationally and globally:

• What are trends across the animal protection sector?
• What is working?
• Where are we seeing challenges?
• Where does Canada stand on the international stage when it comes to animal well-being?

In this episode, the VHS’s Chantelle Archambault and Amy Morris discuss trends in the animal advocacy movement, as well as successes, opportunities, and challenges in Canada and around the world in 2024.

Note: This written discussion has been edited for length.

Chantelle: When it comes to public responses and policy change, we’re increasingly seeing a polarization of opinions. On one hand, people are more aware of animal sentience and care deeply about improving animal well-being, leading to progress and policies that protect animals.

But at the same time, this progress and shifting public opinion is leading to really strong pushback from people who benefit from the status quo. There are some areas where we’re seeing a step backwards. You can see that in things like strong marketing by the dairy industry against plant-based milk.

It seems the more progress we see, the more pushback there is. People feel very strongly about their convictions on both sides of any issue.

Everything from public discourse in the comment section of social media posts to the tailored search results people see when they look up an issue on Google tends to push people further toward confirming their own biases and existing beliefs.

Amy: It’s very frustrating and we see it across the board in all areas of ways people think about the world. At the same time, we can celebrate some wins.

B.C. family law recognizes pets as more than property in divorce and separation

Amy: We have wins in Canada worth talking about. The first is B.C. family law recognizing that companion animals are more than property when they’re doing divorce proceedings.

What’s really great about this is decisions are being made that take into account the nuances of what a family structure is and the relationships that happen between an animal and their caregivers.

Chantelle: It’s great that the courts are recognizing that animals are beings who have thoughts and preferences and bonds and not equivalent to divvying up something like family jewelry.

Canada bans import and export of elephant ivory, rhino horn, and hunting trophies

Amy: Absolutely. Another really great one is that it is now illegal to import or export elephant ivory, rhino horn, and hunting trophies.

We have an episode, Lessons from grassroots animal advocacy in May 2024, that talks about this.

This change demonstrates the impact of a large scale sustained campaign, and it is what keeps us campaigning on different animal topics knowing these changes are possible.

Companion animals included in coercive control legislation

Amy: The next one is having companion animals included in coercive control legislation in Canada. Coercive control often involves abusers threatening, manipulating, or harming companion animals to control their human victims.

The new bill would criminalize these behaviours, including:

• Attempted and threatened violence towards an intimate partner’s animal
• Controlling or attempting to control the manner in which an intimate partner cares for their companion animal

This is important because there are times where an animal is in distress and a person’s ability to get help for that animal is limited by transport or by financial means and when it is an abusive situation, it’s not that person’s fault that they don’t have the financial means or the transport.

It’s something that’s being impacted by another individual and they’re the ones that really need to be held responsible.

Chantelle: We’ve spoken before about the violence link, about how violence toward animals is linked very closely with violence towards humans. And people who are violent toward animals tend to also be violent towards humans.

It’s really important that Canadian legislation is recognizing this.

PUPS Act in Ontario prohibits puppy mills and introduces stronger protections for dogs

Amy: Ontario introduced the Preventing Unethical Puppy Sales Act to prohibit puppy mills and introduce stronger protections for dogs. A number of provinces have put something like this into place and Ontario is the most recent.

It shows that the provinces do have authority to make rules and laws that better protect animals, and that they have the responsibility to as well.

Farmed animal Codes of Practice came under review

Amy: We also have some opportunities in Canada. First, we have the Codes of Practices for farmed animals.

The Codes of Practices provide written recommendations and requirements for the care and handling of farmed animals in Canada. They’re adopted as generally accepted practices of animal management under most legislation, which means they can be used as a defense for farmers, rather than farmers having a proactive duty to comply with these codes of practice.

Even though that’s the case, they’re also used by veterinarians and by practitioners to really show what’s acceptable and what’s not. It’s a standardized document.

They have discussions about pain control, what kind of housing and bedding is appropriate, what’s important to know when moving and restraining animals, providing care, preparing animals for transport, and their euthanasia.

Written into these codes is a number of standards that tell you what’s truly not acceptable in the treatment of farmed animals.

Three codes of practice for care and handling recently came under revision and had their initial public feedback periods for 2024. Those are for horses on farms, cattle used for meat, and chickens and turkeys used for meat.

The organization that manages these processes is a non profit, but they’re funded fully by the government, and these serve as national standards.

Chantelle: The National Farm Animal Care Council, which manages these codes of practice, takes into consideration feedback from a variety of people, including animal advocates and the animal agriculture industry.

The VHS shared ways that people can provide feedback to advocate for better welfare in the codes last year. We’ve seen positive results from this in the past. It’s so important that people are advocating for the welfare of animals to be strongly considered when these codes are under review.

Official parliamentary petition asks that Canada legally recognize animal sentience

Amy: Absolutely. The final opportunity is a petition to recognize animal sentience on a national level.

Right now, the Canadian constitution doesn’t say anything about animals. It’s this general understanding that animals are under our care because we’ve domesticated them, without protection that really acknowledges their individual value and worth.

And so having animal sentience recognized at a national level would be a massive, massive impact.

It might take a while, but it’s on the discussion docket and a step forward.

Chantelle: I would be very excited to see this passed into legislation. There are lots of countries that already recognize animal sentience and it is a crucial part of having better policies passed for protecting animals.

Ban on horse exports for slaughter delayed, in limbo

Amy: Passing any federal legislation takes time and requires cooperation from multiple levels of government across parties. Bills need to be passed through three readings at both the House of Commons and the Senate, and then receive Royal Assent to become law.

One of the challenges that we’ve seen is with Bill C-355, which aimed to ban the export of live horses for slaughter.

This bill has been in discussion for quite a long time, and there was even a letter to the Minister of Agriculture from the Prime Minister to direct them to take action on this item. It was part of a campaign promise.

The bill to ban the export of horses for slaughter passed the House of Commons, but then it stalled for months at the Senate. It’s now in this sort of legislative limbo while Parliament is paused.

There were so many reasons to move forward with passing this bill. One is that it was a campaign promise and there was a mandate letter more than three years ago to put this into place.

Within the past year, new exposes showed horses suffer more than previously reported. Shipments are regularly exceeding the legal limit of 28 hours without food, water, and rest. More horses are dying in transit than reported by the government.

The majority of Canadians support banning horse exports for slaughter.

What it came down to was certain senators were dragging their feet and bringing up unrelated issues, rather than working together to prioritize the lives of horses and the values held by many Canadians.

If an election is called, which appears imminent, the bill will die and be forced to start the process again.

Right now, the best thing you can do is contact the Minister of Agriculture to stop the export of horses for slaughter and keep this moving through the next season of legislation.

Rolled back laws on inhumane hunting practices

Amy: Last year, Alberta lifted a ban on hunting grizzly bears that had been in place for almost two decades.

Similarly, Ontario had a ban on penned dog hunting, and that was also lifted the year prior.

Some of these laws have been in place for a long time for good reason, and those changes have to do with special interest groups having their voices heard, even when it isn’t necessarily in the public interest.

It’s unfortunate that special interest groups are being heard in a way that’s against animal welfare. We’re not seeing special interest groups that are pro animal welfare being heard in the same way.

Olympics remove show jumping from modern pentathlon event

Chantelle: Now that we’ve talked about some challenges in Canada, I would like to talk about some more wins that we’ve seen further out around the world.

We had the Summer Olympics in 2024. Following the Olympics, the modern pentathlon removed show jumping.

Horses are still used elsewhere in the Olympics, but the modern pentathlon has been a major area for concern. That sport involves the use of aversive tools like whips, bits, and spurs to control horses movements.

In this event, horses are randomly paired with riders who are participating. There have been concerns about riders not having a chance to develop a bond with the horse that they’re riding and to understand them on an individual level, which can lead to a lack of focus on the horse’s well-being and can lead to the horse experiencing stress, fear, and pain.

Advocates have also noted that riders and handlers have been seen directing their frustrations at horses during the competitions.

You may have heard the story of a coach punching a horse named Saint Boy in 2021 with her fist and encouraging the rider to use greater force on him.

The move away from show jumping for this sport and instead of replacing it with an obstacle course is a great example of how we can enjoy these showcases of human athlete skills and have our entertainment, but we don’t need to use animals to do that.

Amy: It’s great to see this, and this is so hard to overcome. Certainly there’s lots of sports using animals still. Big kudos to the Olympics for removing this use of horses.

UK bans farmed animal export for slaughter and fattening

Chantelle: In the UK in 2023, animal sentience was legally recognized at a federal level.

Last year it was decided that farmed animals would no longer be exported for slaughter or fattening abroad. That eliminates a really significant welfare concern for farmed animals. It’s similar to what we’re trying to achieve with the ban of horses for slaughter.

Transporting animals on long journeys is a big concern.

Farmed animals who are being transported go through a lot of suffering. They often endure extreme weather conditions like extreme heat and cold. They can go a very long time without food, water, and rest. They are shipped in overcrowded conditions to maximize how many animals can be sent to be killed at one time.

All of those conditions together can lead to animals becoming injured, sick, or even dying in transport. Depending on how they’re being shipped, it can be a really long time until there’s someone who even can reach them to attend to them.

The Animal Welfare Livestock Exports Act in the UK was met with cross party support, which shows that animal wellbeing is not a partisan issue and that reducing the suffering of our fellow beings that we share the planet with is something we really should all care about.

Amy: This is pretty amazing. I’m surprised they’re willing to make these kinds of changes, certainly, I think there’s a number of things at play. Them being an island helps as well as having that sentience law passed.

Pet Abduction Act protect pets and guardians in the UK

Chantelle: Another thing that came out of sentience law is the UK introduced the Pet Abduction Act in 2024. That made the abduction of companion animals like cats and dogs a specific criminal offense. Convictions can result in a fine or up to five years in prison, or both.

The theft of animals was previously covered by the Theft Act of 1968; these laws were put in place a very long time ago and they were due for an update. The former law considered pets to be property, like if someone stole a car.

This is another one of the great strides in protections for animals and their guardians since animal sentience was recognized.

We have consistently seen better protections for animals and the people who care for them when animal sentience legislation is introduced. But still, when we were sharing the federal petition to recognize animal sentience in Canada, there was a lot of misunderstanding around this.

We had people commenting with concerns that there wouldn’t be any protections for pet guardians if pets were no longer considered property, which we know based on the many countries that have passed this legislation is not true. I think there’s some anxiety around animal advocacy that people want to take your pets away.

But progress like this means pets are more part of the family. Greater care goes into keeping them safe because the law recognizes that they have an inherent value and an emotional value, not just a monetary value.

Amy: The challenge is convincing lawmakers that’s the case and that there’s public value in that.

New laws on wildlife killing contests, animal testing, and pet sales in the United States

Chantelle: New York’s ban on wildlife killing contests came into effect last year. New York is the 10th state to outlaw events like this, where the goal is to kill wild animals for cash and prizes.

There are also new laws around animal testing testing in Oregon, where there can no longer be the sale of cosmetics tested on animals; in California, where non animal alternatives are required for testing on certain products; and in Maryland, where animal research facilities are now required to pay into a fund that goes toward developing non animal methods and hopefully lead to less animal testing in the future.

New York pet stores can no longer sell cats, dogs, or rabbits, while pet stores in Pennsylvania must post health and breeder information for puppies as part of the state’s puppy mill law. The goal of these changes is to make people more aware of where animals are coming from and to encourage people to adopt animals who are in need of homes rather than buying from places like puppy mills, where the animal’s health and well being aren’t adequately considered.

Amy: Certainly this area, while these are some specific wins, there’s been states that have had laws around this for a long time. Some even have mandatory spay/neuter rules and things like that. It is a state by state reality, just like in Canada. That can be really frustrating, but it also helps us to model policies when the U.S. has similar requirements that laws be passed on a sort of state by state, province by province basis.

Chantelle: It’s very impactful when we see that there’s a precedent for things like this, where this is working to help animals elsewhere. It is slow going when it’s state by state and province by province, but we are seeing progress slowly, but surely.

South Korea outlaws the use of dogs for meat

Chantelle: I have so many more wins, but a couple more to highlight. South Korea passed a law banning the use of dogs for meat, and that will be in effect as of 2027. A lot of countries have already banned the slaughter or sale of dogs for meat. Surprisingly, Canada is not one of them, although meat that’s sold in Canada has to be inspected, and there’s no licensed slaughterhouses that kill dogs in Canada.

Mexico’s constitution includes animal protection as a fundamental value

Chantelle: Mexico’s constitution now includes animal protection as a fundamental value. Nine other countries include animals in their constitution, but this new inclusion in Mexico appears to be the most specific.

For instance, humane education is a mandatory guideline in all educational institutions nationwide.

Amy: Wow, that’s huge. Imagine if we had that around the world.

New Zealand bans greyhound racing

Chantelle: In New Zealand, the government announced that it will ban greyhound racing as of 2026.

That ban comes as a result of very high rates of injuries for dogs used in racing. In 2021, there were more than 200 greyhounds who died and 900 suffered injuries due to racing, according to local media reports.

The law recognizes this level of suffering for entertainment is not acceptable.

Research reinforces benefits of plant-based food

Chantelle: There are also some more opportunities around the world. There’s a lot of new research coming out around plant-based foods and the availability of nutrients in plant-based foods.

One example is a study funded by the beef industry, which found plant-based protein as effective as meat for building muscle.

That study didn’t receive a lot of media attention, presumably because the funders wanted it to prove meat is better than plant-based foods. But it didn’t, despite using less protein-dense sources like black beans and whole wheat.

Despite the study seeming to skew towards a bias for the result they wanted, it still found that if you’re getting enough protein throughout the day, plants are just as effective.

Amy: I love that. Eating lots of nuts, seeds, lentils and beans has given me so much protein. The nice thing is, there are diverse forms of protein to choose from if people struggle with some types that their bodies don’t accept.

I’m grateful there’s so many different types that we have access to, so if we need to cut one out, we can.

Chantelle: And you can get protein from plant-based foods in some ways that I wasn’t even considering. I just switched to a bread that has 10 grams of protein in two slices. You could be getting more protein than you’re even counting.

South African collaboration releases manifesto on animal protection framework

Chantelle: And in South Africa, the Animal Law Project (ALP), which is a collaboration of animal protection organizations, consulted with the sector and with experts to develop and release a manifesto that recommends an overhaul of the legal framework for animals.

In 2016, South African courts recognized animal sentience and decided animal welfare was included in the constitution, which was great.

But very few changes have been made to effectively protect animals since then. This is a great example of collaboration within and between sectors to develop recommendations for animal protection.

Amy: We need to develop useful and clear paths forward that can be applied around the globe.

Intersectionality with other advocacy movements

Amy: This concept of One Health, One Welfare is sort of a modern name for connecting the environment, animals, and people. This has existed for so long within Indigenous cultures, where there’s this recognition that we’re all interrelated.

You can relate this to intersectionality, recognizing that we have environmental protections that interact with animal protections. Animal farming impacts the environment and habitat destruction harms wild animals.

There is also overlap with the labour sector, where vulnerable workers who are often marginalized are working in industries that exploit animals. because industries that exploit animals are the lowest paying.

There is overlap with income inequality. Having a lack of resources for low income pet guardians can lead to animals being surrendered to shelters or suffering and people being separated from their animals.

The more we recognize that interplay, we can work with different movements to advocate for people and animals, or advocate for the environment and animals, or all three, in a way that has more power than acting in silos.

Addressing an issue through a variety of methods

Amy: When it comes to farmed animals, advocates across the sector are taking a three pronged approach.

Advocacy to reduce harm to farmed animals through welfare regulations and government policy change that can be really slow and incremental, but it does have an impact. And at the very least, you have to stop it from going backwards, because what we’ll see is that things go backwards if you don’t stay with them.

And then there’s also plant-based advocacy to decrease the demand for animals being raised and killed for food. The more plant-based demand there is, the better likelihood that fewer animals are suffering.

Finally, there’s a push for corporations to adopt higher welfare standards. In the next we’re going to discuss the Canada Animal Welfare Scorecard from Mercy for Animals, tracking which companies are following through with welfare commitments, like sourcing cage-free eggs.

Making the movement more accessible and welcoming

Amy: Another trend that is so important around the globe is making the movement for animals more accessible and welcoming. Moving away from judgment and supporting people to make gradual changes, from talking about a meal you enjoyed to changes like people working within their institutions or their places of work to make change.

There’s also new ways all the time to share information through digital platforms, through one on one conversations, changing media landscapes.

Staying on top of that and reflecting on how we can continue effective advocacy despite a changing environment of how information gets disseminated.

Chantelle: Yeah, that’s so important to consider when we’re talking about how to make animal advocacy more accessible to more people and share these really important messages with as many people as possible.

Taking a community-centered approach

Amy: One final trend is taking a community centered approach. An example is supporting people in caring for their animals rather than pushing for strict regulations, such as bans on pet ownership in low income housing.

As well, working with farmers and workers to create more ethical food systems.

The more we collaborate, the more we can see that everybody does want to work towards some of the same goals, and we can feel connected to those we’re collaborating with and come up with better solutions.

Amy: Sharing about the legal changes with friends and family can make a big impact. The more people think about sentience and the constitution, these are abstract concepts, but they mean so much.

It does take this sort of flow from early adopters (people who care deeply about issues and take initiative to make changes) to the mushy middle (people who don’t have strong opinions about an issue but may be swayed to action). And then you get those forced with legislation to change as the final step.

All of you listening are early adopters. Take the time to think about what does it take to get those mushy middle folk a little bit closer to being early adopters, or considering changes in their lives that can influence legislation.

The more public opinion changes, the better odds we have at changing laws.

Please join us again next month as we’ll be speaking with Mercy for Animals about Canada’s Animal Welfare Scorecard.

Research plays a crucial role in animal advocacy, helping to make decisions, measure impacts, and infludence policy-makers.

This month’s episode of The Informed Animal Ally discusses how research is used in animal advocacy, particularly polling, surveys, and reports. The episode expoles why collecting this kind of data is important, the ways we can use it in our advocacy work, and examples from the Vancouver Humane Society’s recent research.

Note: This written discussion has been edited for length.

Chantelle: First, Amy, I was wondering if you could share a little bit about what we’re talking about when we discuss surveys. What kinds of questions are asked and how are those answers useful when we’re talking about animal advocacy?

Amy: Yeah, there’s a lot of different data that can be gathered from surveys.

• You can learn about what people think. We kind of frame that as public opinion, but that can also take into account, for example, how people feel about the their pets.
• You can also measure public behaviour. So you can get a sense of what people are actually doing with their time and their money.
• And then you can gather demographic data. Demographic data gives more context to the polling data.

Public opinion questions

Amy: When you think about what people think, that helps you have a sense of how people are falling on a scale. And when you’re trying to shift attitude, when your goal is to change the way people think about things, then you can use that public opinion polling to get a gauge whether you’ve been successful.

You can do that on a micro scale with a small community if you’re targeting ads and trying to get a sense of what’s happening in Vancouver, or you can compare that to a national audience, you can see growth based on a campaign and measure that against an area that hasn’t had that campaign.

One example of this is a Research Co. survey that asked, would you say you’re in favor or opposed to each of the following: eating animals, using animals in rodeo, killing animals for their fur.

You can take that data to decision makers, politicians and business owners when advocating for change. And that shows what the public opinion is when it comes to a practice that harms animals.

It is the most useful data for the government because they care about what the people who vote for them think.

Public behaviour questions

Amy: Other polling data, such as public behaviours, can be useful for decision makers as well. However, it has a different effect.

An example is a survey about people’s eating habits and dietary choices, or a question about if you’ve been to the zoo in the past year.

If people are eating less meat on their own, we can bring that to a city to say, as they’re creating their food budget, they could make more accessible plant-based options available in their parks, because we have evidence that people are eating less meat and wanting more plant-based food available.

Demographic questions

Amy: When it comes to the demographic data, it really helps give context.

Particularly when you’re trying to decide what’s the most valuable audience to target, you can identify that with demographic data. You can say, okay, this is the audience that’s moving in this direction already. So there’s already some peer support.

Maybe let’s concentrate our efforts on this audience to create an overall societal shift.

Chantelle: Thank you so much for that great overview of the kinds of surveys that are helpful for animal advocacy work and how.

Chantelle: We at the Vancouver Humane Society have commissioned quite a few surveys over the past three years, and we’d like to share how they’ve been helpful for our work.

One example is the VHS commissioned a poll on plant-based eating habits and opinions in the Lower Mainland of B.C. in December, 2022.

You can hear more about this poll in depth in our episode from July, 2023, which is called Will plant-based become the norm?

A lot of things came out of this survey. First of all, it informed our advocacy work by telling us people’s biggest motivations for reducing their consumption of animal products.

The top motivator for eating less meat and animal products was personal health, and then the cost of foods and the environment were tied, and then animal well-being.

We also collected data about people’s eating habits. That told us how many servings of various animal products people are actually eating each month. For instance, most people are eating 7 to 17 servings of eggs, but they’re eating less than 4 servings of fish.

From that, we created an impact report that specifically looked at the impact an average person could make in the Lower Mainland.

We found that by switching 100 percent of their diet to plant-based foods for one year, one person could save the amount of emissions it takes to power a home for six months, and they could also save about $600 a year.

By switching just 25 percent of their diet, they could save the carbon that’s sequestered by a quarter acre of forested land, and they could also save about $156 a year.

How much can you save on your grocery bill eating plant-based? #shorts

A recent cost-benefit analysis was conducted to determine how much an individual could save if shifting all or part of their diet to plant-based. What were the results? More info: https://plantuniversity.ca/learn/plant-based-poll/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=shorts-7-cost2&utm_campaign=plantu_survey

So we were able to share the findings from that survey and the report in a plant-based advocacy campaign, which included billboards across Vancouver, a series of videos on social media, and a press release that was covered in 23 media outlets.

We also continue to use the results from that survey to inform our plant-based advocacy work and reach more people with accessible plant-based foods.

As we’ve mentioned, this area of advocacy has the potential to make a huge impact for animals.

In 2023, 859 million land animals were killed for food in Canada. If we can convince people who are eating animal products to switch even just one day a week to plant-based foods, we can save almost 123 million land animals every year, plus an estimate of more than 1.4 billion aquatic animals.

It would also make a huge difference in decreasing the demand for industrial animal agriculture, which forces more animals into a smaller space for greater output. It’s what many know as factory farming, where many of the greatest harms to animals happen on an almost unimaginable scale.

Amy: The nice thing about survey data is it takes big concepts and you can condense them to a simple phrase and assess where people are at. you can make that available to the public and they will likely have an opinion on it.

When you present that information, it gets people thinking about themselves and their habits.

Amy: The VHS commissioned three surveys on the Calgary Stampede in the past three years.

Removing rodeo and chuckwagons from the Calgary Stampede would have virtually no impact on attendance

Amy: The first survey in 2022 found that removing the rodeo and chuckwagons from the Calgary Stampede would have virtually no impact on attendance and would actually bring in some new crowds.

64 percent of Calgarians had attended or planned to attend that year, and 63 percent said they would attend without the rodeo.

24 percent of non-attendees from that year said said that they would attend if the animal events were dropped.

Bringing that forward to council helps them to see that there is a wider audience that could be reached by the Stampede.

That has effects on marketing. The Stampede is essentially a public event, and it’s a profit driven entity in that they are looking to bring in money into the city. People stay at hotels and go to the music shows.

If they can bring more people in and join the Stampede, they have incentive to do that for tourism purposes.

2024 polls show support for animal events dropped this year

Amy: In 2024, we conducted a poll gauging support in Calgary, Alberta, and across Canada.

We then monitored the Stampede and shared information with the media about animal deaths and incidents this year, which turned out to be the deadliest year of animal events since 2019 with four deaths.

That was really impactful, and we made sure to share that impact with the media.

We also ran a campaign to raise awareness about the harms caused by rodeo and chuckwagon races online.

The polling that we did after the Stampede showed a drop in support for all events amongst Canadians. A majority of the Calgarians opposed one of the five events listed in the survey in February, but that jumped to four out of five in July.

In both groups, opposition to government funding of rodeo events increased. And the increase was really sharp in Calgary, where opposition to funding rose from 51 percent to 67 percent.

So we got from half the population to two thirds opposed to government funding these rodeo events. That speaks to people making decisions based on what voters think.

These results were shared on social media in an op-ed published in the Daily Hive, as well as with city council in Calgary.

Without this data, we would not know if our campaigns were effective. The outcome has value, and not just an internal value; there’s that external value of sharing the information as well.

Amy: I’ll move on to talking about a captivity poll. In 2022, we did a poll on public opinion about animals in captivity in B.C.

The outcome was pretty remarkable. We found that 89 percent of British Columbians are opposed to the international trade of wild and exotic animals to be kept in permanent captivity in zoos and aquariums.

This was shared in media stories and a letter to the province of British Columbia calling for changes to the Controlled Alien Species Act, which allows exotic animals to be imported.

It’s amazing to think about all the animals kept in captivity solely for human entertainment, and the general population is not on board with that.

People were split fairly evenly on actually keeping animals and zoos and aquariums for entertainment and education: 49 percent in favour and 44 percent were opposed. And that really helped us inform our outreach campaign, realizing there is some thought to the education and entertainment value of animals in zoos.

While we understand the suffering animals experience doesn’t balance with the entertainment and education value, we need to shift public opinion.

We can do another poll to see if we’ve changed that once we’ve done another campaign. So it’s really nice to benchmark those things over time to see if we can shift public opinion and influence policy decisions to match the knowledge and science we have.

Chantelle: I’m really interested to see the future of public opinion on this because I think there’s a lot of messaging around zoos that they have a lot of educational value, but the evidence shows people don’t learn more from going to see animals at a zoo than they would just learning about animals from home or going for a walk through the forest.

So I think that there’s a lot of potential to help people learn about ways that they can become educated about animals and animal well-being without causing animals to suffer because they’re sitting in a cage in captivity.

Chantelle: I wanted to talk about a survey from this year, which was a poll of BC residents gauging people’s general knowledge and interests around animal topics.

This survey is really interesting because it’s going to be used to inform our work on a wider scale in the coming years to raise awareness on the care and well being of animals and also to advocate for changes that will prevent animal suffering in public policy.

Some key findings:

56.4 percent of British Columbians live with at least one companion animal.

Most British Columbians are interested in five of the topics that we asked about in our survey:

• Interacting with and protecting wildlife.
• Welfare concerns around farmed animals.
• How to care for pets, like grooming and food.
• Welfare concerns around animals in captivity in zoos and aquariums.
• How to train pets – that’s not necessarily just trick training, it’s really things that influence the well-being of companion animals on a day to day basis, like how can we desensitize an animal to the sound of fireworks that really stresses them out, or how can we make it easier for them to go through care items like grooming or to have a positive experience of a walk outside.

We found that 12 percent of people were flexitarian, 9 percent were vegetarian, and 2 percent were vegan.

We asked about what actions folks have taken for animals in the past six months, and we found that almost half of people who were surveyed had taken at least one of the actions that we listed.

The top ones were things like reading or watching news information about animals, donating to animal organizations, or signing petitions.

And we also asked about which resources people consider useful when they’re learning about a new topic. The top answers were websites, YouTube, and TV news stories.

That survey is going to help us understand current public behaviours around animal welfare and attitudes around animal well-being. It’ll determine the most popular topics surrounding animal well-being and advocacy so that we can share information about those. And it will also determine the most effective platforms where we can reach people regarding animal topics.

Amy: I wanted to share qualitative studies and non-public polling.

We’ve partnered with research institutions to do interviews with people who accessed care for their pets in a time of an emergency, post-COVID. We looked at financial impacts on low income individuals.

Another survey or study that we did was looking at people who work in the trauma-informed sector and getting a sense of how they operate in that sector and what their attitudes are towards burnout.

We interviewed people in the shelter sector, animal enforcement and leadership in those and looked at what the differences were and then put together a report.

Out of that research we created a training program on trauma-informed care in the animal service sector. The training program is free for anyone to take online to look at how to make the work that they do more trauma-informed.

We’re advocating for more trauma informed care of people, which we know will have a positive impact on the animals that people care for. So even though it’s not a quick study, it takes longer, the sort of depth of that allows for a much more thorough understanding of the sector and what was needed to create some pretty significant shifts in our own sector and community.

We also did a cost-benefit analysis using financial data and municipal purchasing to assess how we could improve the systems where municipalities are purchasing food.

So are there cheaper products that they could replace one for another, that could be as simple as replacing dairy milk with oat milk; replacing beef products with beans and lentils.

The financial benefit of that is huge. And so if we’re looking at a public body accountable to citizens for being financially responsible, we can demonstrate that plant-based products do make a significant impact when it comes to the waste stream, the impact on the environment and the financial choices.

So those types of studies, maybe it’s qualitative research, maybe it’s an economic analysis can also have a huge impact when it comes to changing policies.

Chantelle: Yeah, absolutely. One of the major themes I’m noticing as you’re speaking is there’s lots of different avenues to advocate for a better world for animals.

People are not always going to listen to concerns about animal well-being and their experiences. That doesn’t always make an impact with policy-makers. But talking about the financial impacts, the environmental impacts, can reach decision-makers.

We’ve also talked briefly on this show about the concept of One Health, One Welfare. That’s the interconnectedness of all these pieces; the well-being of humans, animals, the environment impact each other.

For instance, more trauma-informed services for people with companion animals has a really positive impact on the actual lives of those companion animals as well.

Amy: It’s so important to make sure with surveys we’re getting accurate data that’s as unbiased as possible in terms of how we’re asking the questions.

Obviously, we know people themselves are biased and that’s the whole point, but when we use this information to speak with decision-makers, we want those to be well-informed recommendations and make sure we’re also sharing accurate information with the public.

When we’re conducting surveys about public opinion or behaviour, we use reputable companies like Research Co. and Angus Reid Institute to help with that. And when we’re working with public institutions like universities, we’re making sure that the process is going through an entire evaluation within the university that meets their standards.