Education is the most important component of a comprehensive approach to management, as human behaviour is a tremendously influential factor in companion animal issues. Encouraging responsible and rewarding human-animal relationships will lead to an improvement in animal welfare as well as a reduction in many of the sources of roaming animals. The owned animal population may be found to be a significant source of roaming animals and may suffer from many preventable welfare problems, and human behaviour towards these animals will be the driving force behind these problems. Public education to increase awareness of companion animal issues and an impact on animal welfare will be necessary for engaging community involvement. However, there may be key specific education messages that are important to highlight at different stages of a particular program. For example, in a cat population program, you may focus on the realistic expectations of cat ownership, while explaining the implications of feeding free roaming cats without assuming ownership for them.
Strategies should focus on supporting responsible pet ownership and on reducing the roaming population, with the aim of decreasing the incidence of these animals transitioning from owned to semi owned or unowned and maximizing the transition of these animals into owned pets.
Several issues need to be considered when using this component:
Attitudes towards companion animals also need to be explored within communities before the educational aspects on population control can be devised. If negative attitudes towards specific animals exist, they will reduce the likelihood of education programs, and subsequent management programs succeeding, especially if population stability as opposed to reduction is the intention. It is a good idea to engage religious representatives and community leaders early in the process, to explore how religious or cultural understanding could hinder or support potential educational efforts.
Religion and culture play an important role in people’s attitudes and beliefs. There may be a belief that sterilization will cause undesirable behavioural changes, that sterilization is a form of mutilation or that to deprive an animal of the ability to reproduce is an unacceptable infringement of its rights. Religious and cultural attitudes must be explored and addressed with sensitivity and understanding if they need to be challenged for the benefit of animal welfare.
It may be possible to address these beliefs with education to change behavioural outcomes. For example, a belief that sterilization will cause negative behavioural changes in an animal can be addressed through education and examples of sterilized animals in the community, so encouraging owners to seek sterilization for their pets.
Resources
Pets for Life Community Outreach Toolkit. Retrieved from https://www.animalsheltering.org/sites/default/files/content/PetsForLifeCommunityOutreachToolkit.pdf from www.animalsheltering.org. (2014).
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