ABSTRACT

This study evaluated the effectiveness of a Scottish SPCA animal welfare education intervention, “Rabbit Rescuers,” on 5- to 7-year-old children’s belief in animal minds, rabbit welfare knowledge, attitudes toward cruelty, and attachment to pets. “Rabbit Rescuers” was a one-week intervention comprising daily 15-min rabbit welfare activities delivered in school by classroom teachers. The activities were designed to be age-appropriate and covered key elements of rabbits’ behavior and cognitive abilities, welfare needs (including diet, housing, and natural behaviors), and rabbit care including safe handling and health care (role play as vets). A mixed-method longitudinal design was employed comparing three intervention conditions: mechanical rabbits; soft toy rabbits; and control (education as usual). A sample of 123 children from two age groups (Primary 1 [5- to 6-year-olds] and Primary 2 [6- to 7-year-olds]; 65 boys and 58 girls) in one school participated in the study and were interviewed individually before and after the intervention. Multiple mixed-factor ANOVAs showed that children in the intervention groups improved significantly more than control children in terms of rabbit welfare knowledge, understanding of rabbits as sentient, and attachment to pets. There was also a reduction in attitudes that rabbit cruelty is acceptable among the intervention groups at post-test. The intervention was effective for children regardless of their age. Importantly, the intervention had a stronger impact for children interacting with the interactive mechanical rabbits compared with those who interacted with the soft toy rabbits for all the variables, except for attachment to pets. The findings show that animal welfare education can be effective for young children and that age-appropriate activities support children’s knowledge acquisition and attitude change relating to animal welfare. Importantly, the results highlight that mechanical or robotic animals might be highly effective animal welfare education resources.

摘要

本研究评估了苏格兰 SPCA 动物福利教育干预措施“兔子救援者”对 5 至 7 岁儿童对动物思想的信念、兔子福利知识、对残忍的态度和对宠物的依恋的有效性。“兔子救援者”是一项为期一周的干预，包括由任课教师在学校进行的每天 15 分钟的兔子福利活动。这些活动的设计与年龄相适应，涵盖了兔子的行为和认知能力、福利需求（包括饮食、住房和自然行为）以及兔子护理（包括安全处理和医疗保健（扮演兽医））的关键要素。采用混合方法纵向设计比较三种干预条件：机械兔；毛绒玩具兔；和控制（照常教育）。来自一所学校两个年龄组（小学 1 [5 至 6 岁] 和小学 2 [6 至 7 岁]；65 名男孩和 58 名女孩）的 123 名儿童的样本参与了这项研究，并且在干预前后分别接受了采访。多项混合因素方差分析表明，干预组的儿童在兔子福利知识、对兔子有知觉的理解以及对宠物的依恋方面明显优于对照组儿童。在测试后的干预组中，对兔子虐待是可以接受的态度也有所减少。无论年龄大小，干预对儿童都是有效的。重要的是，与那些与毛绒玩具兔互动的儿童相比，干预对所有变量的儿童与互动机械兔互动的影响更大，除了对宠物的依恋。研究结果表明，动物福利教育对幼儿有效，适合年龄的活动支持儿童获取与动物福利相关的知识和态度转变。重要的是，结果强调机械或机器人动物可能是非常有效的动物福利教育资源。