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oai:recercat.cat:20.500.12327/3932025-10-22T11:02:58Zcom_2072_4428com_2072_4427col_2072_487898

Should animal welfare regulations be more restrictive? A case study in eight European Union Countries Pejman, Niloofar Kallas, Zein Dalmau, Antoni Velarde, Antonio Producció Animal Benestar Animal 636 Increasingly, intensive livestock production systems have increased societal concern regarding the current animal welfare standards. We investigated whether individuals in their roles as consumers and citizens believe that the current European regulations regarding animal welfare should be more restrictive. Factors a ecting this decision were assessed by analyzing respondents’ understanding of animal welfare-related issues, their subjective and objective knowledge levels, the credibility they assign to di erent information sources, their perceptions toward the current restrictiveness of animal welfare standards, and their socioeconomic characteristics. Data were collected using a semi-structured questionnaire distributed in eight European Union (EU) countries (Spain, the United Kingdom, Poland, Greece, Lithuania, Romania, Italy, and Sweden) with 3860 total responses. The results showed that consumers are more reluctant to adopt more restrictive regulations than respondents in the role of citizens. Respondents from northern European countries (Poland and Sweden) are more likely to support regulations that are more restrictive than the current minimum requirements than respondents from southern countries (Spain and Italy). Women were found to be more concerned with the welfare of pigs and laying hens—lending credibility to the Internet as an information source—and were more likely to support more restrictive animal welfare legislation. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 2019-04-25 info:eu-repo/semantics/article Pejman, Niloofar, Zein Kallas, Antoni Dalmau, and Antonio Velarde. 2019. "Should Animal Welfare Regulations Be More Restrictive? A Case Study In Eight European Union Countries". Animals 9 (4): 195. MDPI AG. doi:10.3390/ani9040195. 2076-2615 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12327/393 https://doi.org/10.3390/ani9040195 eng Animals SANCO/Health and Consumer Protection/2013-G3-SI2.649393/ES/Study on education and information activities on animal welfare/EDUCAWEL Attribution 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess 19 MDPI