COVID-19 & Animals: What The Public Does And Doesn’t Know
A Meat and Dairy Industries Article from All-Creatures.org

FROM Jo Anderson, Faunalytics.org
April 2020

What the general public knows about its relationship to animals shows there is room for education — and backlash.

Photo by Fusion Medical Animation on Unsplash 

Project Background

The current project was designed to gather information for animal welfare organizations in light of the current outbreak of COVID-19 (also referred to as the novel coronavirus). We asked advocates to submit survey ideas in order to determine what information would best help the organizations who make up our audience. We combined those ideas into a set of questions to administer as a poll in the U.S.

Key Findings (overview)

1. Only 10 to 20% of people in the U.S. understand the zoonotic (animal-to-human) origins of the novel coronavirus.
2. A paragraph outlining the link between animal agriculture and the outbreak was seen as convincing and logical by the majority of participants.
3. There is moderate support for legislation that would protect both animals and human health.
4. Most people believe animal shelters and sanctuaries should be considered essential services.
5. Very few people are aware of the threats to life faced by animals used in research or those who depend on tourists for food.
6. Unless food availability changes in the coming weeks, we should not expect overall animal product consumption to change substantially because of COVID-19, although some individuals may shift their behavior.
7. In a time of pandemic, some people are more likely to donate to animal charities, some are less likely.

Please read the entire article: COVID-19 & Animals: What The Public Does And Doesn’t Know

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