ATTITUDES TO ANIMAL USE IN CHILDREN

Six hundred and fifty children, aged between 11 and 15 years, from an urban and a rural area, completed a questionnaire in which they provid ed information regarding heir attitudes towards 13 issues involving th e use of animals. Information regarding the pets the children owned wa s also obtained. The child's sex (male, female), age (11-15 years), an d residence area (urban, rural) were related to pet ownership, and, in cluding pet ownership, to attitudes towards the use of animals. Over 9 0% of the sample owned a pet, with the dog being the most common. More pets were owned by children from rural than urban areas. With regards to the animal-use issues, all the children discriminated between anim al uses that lead to death of or injury to the animal and those regard ed as exploitation. Children disagreed more with uses leading to the a nimal's death or injury. Females expressed more disagreement than male s, and children from urban areas expressed more disagreement than chil dren from rural settings. The study revealed pet ownership to be high among school children. This was matched by a high concern over activit ies leading to the animal's death or injury, indicating that strong at titudes to animal use are formed early during development. Early educa tion may be important in shaping these attitudes.