idw – Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

Nachrichten, Termine, Experten

Grafik: idw-Logo
Science Video Project
idw-Abo

idw-News App:

AppStore

Google Play Store



Instance:
Share on: 
02/15/2019 12:05

Happy as a pig in muck?

Thomas Richter Öffentlichkeitsarbeit
Georg-August-Universität Göttingen

    Photos play an important role when it comes to how agricultural products are seen by consumers. A team of scientists from the Universities of Bozen-Bolzano and Göttingen investigated how people perceive and evaluate photos of a pig in different stalls. The results were published in the scientific journal PLoS ONE.

    Around 1,000 consumers from Germany evaluated pictures of a pig that looks either happy or sad in a pen with straw bedding or a slatted floor. The results show that the pen in which a pig is shown has the strongest influence on how the animal is perceived. "The most common enclosures for pigs these days are ones in which the animals live on a concrete floor with gaps for the liquid manure to flow off. These pens are perceived as very problematic," says the lead author Professor Achim Spiller from the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development at the University of Göttingen. "In comparison, the straw stall is rated as clearly more natural and more animal-friendly. Even the sad or cheerful expression of the pig standing in the enclosure does not change this". The evaluation of the pig's well-being shows that the same pig on straw is rated as more satisfied, healthier and happier than in a photo with a slatted floor.

    The results help to understand how the public evaluates animal husbandry systems. A slatted floor system, which has been negatively evaluated by most people, is therefore not better perceived even if the pictures show happy-looking animals. A positively perceived enclosure, such as a stall with straw bedding, is not rated any worse, even if the animal looks sad in it.

    The study was made possible by the support of the project "Social Lab – Nutztierhaltung im Spiegel der Gesellschaft " by the Federal Office for Agriculture and Food.


    Contact for scientific information:

    Professor Achim Spiller
    The University of Göttingen
    Faculty of Agricultural Sciences
    Telephone: +49 (0)551 39 9897
    Email: a.spiller@agr.uni-goettingen.de
    Webpage: http://www.uni-goettingen.de/de/11280.html

    Dr Gesa Busch
    Free University of Bozen-Bolzano
    Faculty of Science and Technology
    Telephone: +39 (0)471 017117
    Email: gesa.busch@unibz.it


    Original publication:

    Busch, G., Gauly, S., von Meyer-Höfer, M., Spiller, A. Does picture background matter? People’s evaluation of pigs in different farm settings. PLoS ONE (2019). Doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0211256


    More information:

    https://www.uni-goettingen.de/en/3240.html?id=5344 photos


    Images

    Criteria of this press release:
    Journalists, all interested persons
    Economics / business administration, Nutrition / healthcare / nursing, Social studies, Zoology / agricultural and forest sciences
    transregional, national
    Research results, Scientific Publications
    English


     

    Help

    Search / advanced search of the idw archives
    Combination of search terms

    You can combine search terms with and, or and/or not, e.g. Philo not logy.

    Brackets

    You can use brackets to separate combinations from each other, e.g. (Philo not logy) or (Psycho and logy).

    Phrases

    Coherent groups of words will be located as complete phrases if you put them into quotation marks, e.g. “Federal Republic of Germany”.

    Selection criteria

    You can also use the advanced search without entering search terms. It will then follow the criteria you have selected (e.g. country or subject area).

    If you have not selected any criteria in a given category, the entire category will be searched (e.g. all subject areas or all countries).