DO DOMESTIC-ANIMALS HAVE MINDS AND THE ABILITY TO THINK - A PROVISIONAL SAMPLE OF OPINIONS ON THE QUESTION

Faculty, staff, and graduate students in a number of departments, stud ents in an undergraduate course, and some groups outside the universit y were polled to obtain their perceptions about whether domestic anima ls have minds, the ability to think, and differing degrees of intellig ence (the surveys focused only on horses, cows, sheep, dogs, chickens, pigs, cats, and turkeys). A clear majority of all groups surveyed (ex cept the Department of Zoology) said yes, they believe animals have mi nds, but a substantial number of those in animal sciences and zoology. (17 to 25%) said no. A number of others in animal sciences, zoology, a nd philosophy (11 to 37%) refused to answer the question because the c oncept of mind was not defined. From 80 to 100% of respondents in othe r groups said yes to the question of minds. From 67 to 100% of all par ticipants said yes, they perceive that animals have the ability to thi nk, but a substantial number of animal scientists, zoologists, veterin arians, and English faculty said no, animals don't think (6 to 33%). O n the question Do domestic animals differ in relative intelligence?, t he responses varied from 88% in animal sciences to 100%. Surprisingly, when asked to rank different animal species by intelligence, there wa s a remarkable degree of similarity across all groups regardless of ba ckground; the overall ranking from highest intelligence to lowest was dog, cat, pig, horse, cow, sheep, chicken, and turkey. Most of the res pondents believed that the possession of minds, thought, and intellige nce were relevant factors in how animals should be treated and the pre valent concept was that we should not be cruel to animals, but should treat them humanely.