135 Public perceptions of equine processing and welfare

Abstract

Equine welfare and processing are a major topic of interest, often debated by industry professionals and the public alike. These debates often focus on the welfare of equines during the different aspects of processing and the impacts related to the processing legislation passed in 2007. Our objective was to determine if one’s definition of welfare, industry connection, or their classification of equines was associated with their perceptions of equine processing and related impacts. Over a 6-wk period, a survey was distributed via email and social media outlets to U.S. residents over the age of 18 (n = 1,334). Participants responded to questions including demographic information, connection to the industry, equine classification, and indicated the changes they expected occurred due to the 2007 processing legislation. Furthermore, participants selected sources from which they commonly obtain information regarding animal welfare issues. Statistical significance was set at α=0.05. Multinomial logistic regression in SAS (SAS Institute, Cary, NC; PROC LOGISTIC) was used to determine factors associated with participants’ likelihood to respond “increase,” “decrease,” or “no impact” to each area in which the 2007 legislation could have impacted the industry. When asked if there was an impact on the number of horses processed, connection to the industry (P = 0.03), welfare definition (P < 0.0001) and classification of horses (P = 0.009) were associated with responses. Respondents with light connection, when compared to moderate connection, were 10 times more likely (OR=10.9; 95% Cl: 1.03, 111.1) to say there was an increase in horse processing, versus no impact, in response to the 2007 legislation. Understanding interactions between industry connection, welfare definition, classification of equids relative to current industry issues may prove beneficial to bridge an educational gap and provide clarity to important welfare concerns.