Empathy with humans and with non-human animals: are there differences between individuals who have adopted and those who have relinquished a pet?

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the empathy of humans with animals (human-animal empathy) and humans with humans (human-human empathy, in a sample of individuals who have adopted a dog or a cat and a sample of individuals who have relinquished a dog or a cat in Portugal. A sample of 1,047 individuals completed an online questionnaire on pet adoption and relinquishment, which also included a section measuring their human-human empathy and human-animal empathy. We used the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) translated to Portuguese and the Animal Empathy Scale (AES) modified for the Portuguese population to analyze, respectively, the human-human empathy and with human-animal empathy. This article intends to go deeper into the subject, analyzing those indexes for a sample of the Portuguese population that have adopted or relinquished a companion animal. We found high levels of human-animal empathy in our sample, with no significant differences between adopters and relinquishers of dogs or cats. We found a significant link between human–human empathy and human-animal empathy, and very high scores in the AES in both adopters and relinquishers. The results suggest that empathy levels themselves, specifically a lack of or low levels of empathy, are not the key driver of animal relinquishment.