The human-animal interactions are a key component of human and animal welfare. The quality of this interaction can therefore be assessed by measuring the reaction response of the animals to the handler’s behavior. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between attitude and empathy towards the animals with the quality of human-livestock interactions. Additionally, we aimed to investigate whether the quality of cattle handling deteriorates as the working day progresses. A total of 18 livestock handlers and 1514 Colombian commercial Zebu steers were evaluated. A questionnaire pack consisting of 50 questions regarding demographic information, attitude and empathy characteristics was applied, using a structured interview. Each handlers’ responses to positive and negative attitude and empathy questions were calculated to produce a composite score. Observations of human-animal interactions were made at three times during the day (5:00, 7:00 and 9:00), each observation lasting 30 min. The handlers had an average age of 39.4 ± 3.4 y (range = 18–66 y), with little schooling but a lot of experience in the trade (17.13 ± 14.21 y). During handling, hitting, prodding and hand raising predominated over other actions (p < 0.05), and in response, the cattle behaved by freezing and running. Significant differences were found in the interactions used by handlers depending on the time of day (p < 0.05). The empathy total score ranged from 20 to 100, and the attitude total score between 24 and 120. The average attitude and empathy scores for handlers were 85.05 ± 6.92 (mean ±SD; range, 73–97) and 74.61 ± 4.72 (mean ±SD; range, 65–83), respectively. It has been concluded that there is an association between handlers’ attitudes and empathy towards animals and the quality of human-animal interaction during pre-slaughter.

中文翻译：

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态度和移情与人畜互动的质量之间的联系。

人与动物的相互作用是人类和动物福利的关键组成部分。因此，可以通过测量动物对操作者行为的反应来评估这种相互作用的质量。这项研究的目的是调查态度和同情之间的联系与动物与人畜互动的质量。此外，我们旨在调查随着工作日的进展，牛的饲养质量是否会下降。总共对18位牲畜饲养者和1514头哥伦比亚商业封牛牛进行了评估。通过结构化访谈，使用了包含50个有关人口统计学信息，态度和共情特征的问题的问卷调查包。计算每个处理者对正面和负面态度以及同理心问题的反应，以产生综合得分。在一天中（5：00、7：00和9:00）进行了3次人类-动物相互作用的观察，每次观察持续30分钟。搬运工的平均年龄为39.4±3.4 y（范围= 18-66 y），学历少，但有丰富的行业经验（17.13±14.21 y）。在处理过程中，击打，推举和举手比其他动作占主导地位（p <0.05），并且相应地，牛表现为冻结和奔跑。根据一天中的不同时间，在操作员使用的交互中发现了显着差异（p <0.05）。移情总分在20到100之间，态度总分在24到120之间。操作人员的平均态度和同情得分分别为85.05±6.92（平均值±SD；范围73-97）和74.61±4.72（平均值± SD；范围为65-83）。已经得出结论，处理者的态度和对动物的同理心与屠宰前人畜互动的质量之间存在关联。