Do Mexican TN-Visa swine caretakers’ euthanasia attitudes differ by age?

Abstract

Currently, Hispanic and Latino caretakers makeup 17.2% of the total animal production and aquaculture workforce in the UnitedStates (U.S.). Yet, littleis known about swine euthanasia attitudes as it relates to age demographics. The objective of this project was to investigate if there wereeuthanasia attitudinal differences between ≤ 30 yr and > 30 yr swinecaretakers on a TN-visa from Mexico working on a commercial sow farm. An online Qualtrics survey was delivered in Spanish language andcompleted by 40 caretakers (n= 20 ≤ 30 yr and n = 20 > 30 yr). Eligiblerespondents were swine caretakers on a Trade NAFTA (TN) visa and who spoke andread Spanish as their first language. Results will be presented descriptively. The majority of caretakerswere male (63%), and98% had received a higher education, with 55% never euthanizing an animal priorto this job. Average residency in the U.S. was 3.1 yr. Regardless of caretaker age,all reported to being confident, knowledgeable, could make decisions, and werecomfortable in performing euthanasia. Furthermore, there were no differenceswhen euthanasia was being considered on an adult pig versus a neonatal piglet. Inconclusion, these results suggest pigs and piglets are likely to receive timelyand humane euthanasia to alleviate suffering on-farm regardless of caretakerage that are on a TN-visa from Mexico.