Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-16T11:18:29.876Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Attitudes of Turkish veterinary students towards farm animal welfare

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

E Çavuşoglu  and
E Uzabaci
E Çavuşoglu*
Affiliation:
Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Bursa Uludag, 16059 Gorukle, Bursa, Turkey
E Uzabaci
Affiliation:
Department of Biometry, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Bursa Uludag, Bursa, Turkey
*
* Contact for correspondance: [email protected]
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

People's awareness of livestock welfare has increased in recent years and veterinarians have a critical role to play in maintaining and improving these standards. The aim of this study was to explore the attitude of veterinary students to livestock welfare and an online questionnaire was utilised to gauge the opinions of students from the Bursa Uludag University Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Turkey. A five-point Likert scale covered judgments ranging from ‘Strongly disagree’ to ‘Strongly agree.’ Female students were found to have a higher score for questions related to the welfare of livestock than males. It was also found that students yet to undertake courses in clinical science and animal welfare, ie first and second years, gave higher scores than third, fourth and fifth years who had completed both of these. Moreover, students having owned or dealt previously with livestock provided lower animal welfare scores than their counterparts who had done neither. Seemingly, the sensitivity of veterinary students decreases during the latter stages of their education. To conclude, we suggest further investigation into the extent to which veterinary medicine education influences students’ attitudes to animal welfare as they progress through the course.

Keywords

animal welfareattitudesbroilerdairy cattlelaying henveterinary education
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Welfare , Volume 30 , Issue 3 , August 2021 , pp. 325 - 330
Copyright
© 2021 Universities Federation for Animal Welfare

References

Animal Protection Law in Turkey 2004 Hayvanlar Koruma Kanunu. https://www.mevzuat.gov.tr/MevzuatMetin/1.5.5199-20100611.pdfGoogle Scholar
Blackshaw, JK and Blackshaw, JA 1993 Student perceptions of attitudes to the human-animal bond. Anthrozoös 6(3): 190–198. https://doi.org/10.2752/089279393787002187CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brambell, FWR 1965 Report of the technical committee to enquire into the welfare of animals kept under ı ntensive livestock husbandry systems. Her Majesty's Stationery Office: London, UKGoogle Scholar
Broom, DM 1991 Animal welfare: concepts and measurement. Journal of Animal Science 69(10): 4167–4175. https://doi.org/10.2527/1991.69104167xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cene, E and Karaman, F 2015 Analysing organic food buyers’ perceptions with bayesian networks: A case study in turkey. Journal of Applied Statistics 42(7): 1572–1590. https://doi.org/10.1080/02664763.2014.1001331CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farm Animal Welfare Standards in Turkey 2011 Çiftlik hayvanları nı n refahı na iliș kin genel hükümler hakkı nda yönetmelik. https://www.mevzuat.gov.tr/mevzuat?MevzuatNo=20226&Mevzua tTur=7&MevzuatTertip=5Google Scholar
Harrison, R 1964 Animal Machines. Vincent Stuart Publishers Ltd: London, UK. https://doi.org/10.1177/146642406408400637Google Scholar
Izmirli, S and Phillips, CJ 2012 Attitudes of Australian and Turkish veterinary faculty toward animal welfare. Journal of Veterinary Medical Education 39(2): 200–207. https://doi.org/10.3138/jvme.1010.130r3. https://doi.org/10.3138/jvme.1010.130R3Google ScholarPubMed
Izmirli, S, Yigit, A and Phillips, CJ 2014 Attitudes of Australian and Turkish students of veterinary medicine toward non-human animals and their careers. Society & Animals 22(6): 580–601. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685306-12341352CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levine, ED, Mills, DS and Houpt, KA 2005 Attitudes of veteri-nary students at one US college toward factors relating to farm animal welfare. Journal of Veterinary Medical Education 32(4): 481–940. https://doi.org/10.3138/jvme.32.4.481Google Scholar
Lord, LK, Walker, JB, Croney, CC and Golab, GC 2010 A com-parison of veterinary students enrolled and not enrolled in an ani-mal welfare course. Journal of Veterinary Medical Education 37(1): 40–48. https://doi.org/10.3138/jvme.37.1.40CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mellor, DJ 2016 Updating animal welfare thinking: Moving beyond the ‘Five Freedoms’ towards ‘A Life Worth Living.’ Animals 6(3): 21. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani6030021CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
O’Farrell, V 1990 Students stereotypes of owners and veterinary surgeons. Veterinary Record 127: 625–625Google Scholar
Organic Farming Law in Turkey 2010 Organik tarı mı n esasları ve uygulanması na iliș kin yönetmelik. https://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/eskil-er/2010/08/20100818-4.htmGoogle Scholar
Ostović, M, Mesić, Ž, Mikuš, T, Matkovic, K and Pavicic, Z 2016 Attitudes of veterinary students in Croatia toward farm animal welfare. Animal Welfare 25(1): 21–28. https://doi.org/10.7120/09627286.25.1.021Google Scholar
Ozen, A, Ozturk, R, Yasar, A, Armutak, A, Basagac, T, Ozgur, A, Seker, I and Yerlikaya, H 2004 An attitude of veterinary prac-titioners towards animal rights in Turkey. Veterinarni Medicina-Praha 49(8): 298–304. https://doi.org/10.17221/5708-VETMEDCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paul, ES and Podberscek, AL 2000 Veterinary education and students’ attitudes towards animal welfare. Veterinary Record 146(10): 269–272. https://doi.org/10.1136/vr.146.10.269CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sabuncuoglu, N and Coban, O 2008 Attitudes of Turkish veteri-narians towards animal welfare. Animal Welfare 17(1): 27–33CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Serpell, JA 2005 Factors influencing veterinary students’ career choices and attitudes to animals. Journal of Veterinary Medical Education 32(4): 491–496. https://doi.org/10.3138/jvme.32.4.491CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Singer, P 1975 Animal Liberation: A New Ethics for our Treatment of Animals. HarperCollins: New York, USAGoogle Scholar