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Is animal abuse an environmental crime? Public perception of the abuse of protected, domestic and farm animals.
Fri, September 8, 4:30 to 5:45pm, Educatorio Fuligno, Floor: ground floor / cloister entrance, Fuligno 5Abstract
Animal abuse is defined by Spanish Criminal Code as an environmental crime. Based in this approach, psychological and criminological research on animal abuse may allow comparisons with other types of environmental crimes in which living beings are not directly involved (Martín et al., 2017). This knowledge will be helpful for improving environmental law enforcement and its public support. The aim of this study is to analyze the social perception of the different types of animal abuse described by the Spanish Criminal Code in relation to the type of animal abused, comparing them with other types of environmental crime such as illegal dumping, and taking into account participant gender. The sample consisted of 528 people of both genders, between 18 and 88 years old, living in a territory of high environmental protection. They were asked to rate ten scenarios, based on press releases, describing one of four types of transgression of environmental laws: abuse of protected animals, abuse of domestic animals, abuse of farm animals or illegal dumping. They were asked to use eight Likert-type scales to answer: frequency, severity, justification, intentionality, indignation, punishment, personal intervention and calling the police. The data analyses showed statistical significant differences in participants’ perception according to the type of crime and gender, but not to the interaction. The abuse of domestic animals was the most negatively perceived, and women had a worse perception of animal abuse than men in general terms. It is discussed why the perception profile of the abuse of protected animal species is more similar to that of illegal dumping that to those of the other types of abuse. Also, some explanations are offered for why people is more willing to call the police in cases of abuse of farm animals than protected species animals.