THE IMPORTANCE OF EMOTIONS AND BEHAVIOUR IN LIVESTOCK AND COMPANION ANIMAL WELFARE: A SURVEY AMONG ITALIAN VETERINARY STUDENTS

The concept of animal welfare includes the physical health, the emotional state and the behaviour of the animals. The importance given to such factors by veterinary students was investigated. We collected 876 reports from the 5 years of three Italian veterinary courses, asking students to rate the importance of each of the Five Freedoms for the welfare of companion and farm animals. Respondents age was 22.0 ± 0.1 years, and 75.5% were females. Overall, students considered all freedoms important: the students’ total average score on the Brambell Report’s five freedoms was 23.22 ± 0.09 out of 25 for livestock, and 23.47 ± 0.08 out of 25 for companion animals, with very good reliability (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.84 and 0.86 respectively). A statistical difference was found between these two scores (Mann-Whitney U = 357813, p = 0.008); in particular, students considered the freedom to express normal species-specific behaviour (companion animals 4.60 ± 0.021 versus livestock 4.48 ± 0.023, Mann-Whitney U = 350639, p = 0.001) and the freedom from fear and distress (companion animals 4.72 ± 0.019 versus livestock 4.63 ± 0.021, Mann-Whitney U = 352866, p = 0.001) less important for the welfare of livestock than for the welfare of companion animals. Results suggest that veterinary students give less prominence to the emotional and behavioural aspects of welfare for livestock. Being the future generation of veterinary practitioners, their attitude towards animal welfare has a strong impact on animal welfare itself, that might be negatively affected by this view.