Abstract
The pig sector is struggling with negative attitudes of citizens. This may be the result of conflicting attitudes toward pig husbandry between citizens and other stakeholders. To obtain knowledge about these attitudes, the objectives of this study were (1) to determine and compare attitudes of various stakeholders toward animals, humans and the environment in the context of pig husbandry and (2) to determine and compare the acceptability of publically discussed issues related to pig husbandry of various stakeholders. A questionnaire was distributed to citizens, conventional pig farmers, organic pig farmers, pig husbandry advisors and pig veterinarians. Respondents could indicate their attitude toward aspects related to animals, humans and the environment in the context of pig husbandry and they could indicate their opinion about the acceptability of issues of pig husbandry, e.g. piglet mortality and inside pig housing. Based on measured attitudes and the acceptability of issues, the studied stakeholders could be divided into three distinctive groups. The group of citizens and organic pig farmers showed negative attitudes toward all aspects of pig husbandry, the group of conventional pig farmers and pig husbandry advisors only showed negative attitudes toward aspects related to economics and the group of pig veterinarians showed negative attitudes to specific aspects of pig husbandry. This indicates that stakeholders have different interests and different perspectives with regard to pig husbandry. The pig sector should learn to understand citizens’ perspectives and take these into account in their line of work, the implementation of animal welfare measures and in their communication.
Highlights
The animal husbandry sector is struggling with negative public attitudes toward their sector
These additional care (AC) levels were the most different in comparison with conventional pig farmers and pig husbandry advisors, in which pig veterinarians gave higher AC levels, and the least different in comparison with citizens and organic pig farmers, in which pig veterinarians gave lower AC levels except for time euthanasia, i.e., the time it takes before it is decided to euthanize an animal after it shows symptoms of bad wellbeing
The second group, i.e., conventional pig farmers and pig husbandry advisors, showed positive attitudes toward aspects related to animals and the environment and negative attitudes toward aspects related to humans
Summary
The animal husbandry sector is struggling with negative public attitudes toward their sector. Pig husbandry is one of the animal practices that is trying to anticipate on public attitudes in order to keep their license to produce (Rollin 2004). The license to produce indicates the existence right of a sector, in this case pig husbandry. This license takes into account external factors, e.g., environment and animal welfare, and internal factors, i.e., economic performance and socio-cultural performance (Mureau 2000). For the socio-cultural performance, pig husbandry has a responsibility to implement changes society desires in order to get societal acceptance and have a right to exist (Mureau 2000)
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