Are We Really A 'Nation Of Animal Lovers'?

Yeah, the Empathy Index was launched two years ago, and this is an exciting opportunity for us to begin to track changes over time.

Attitudes have remained more or less the same for many forms of animal use that we've been tracking, but there have been a few statistically significant changes from 2024.

So the largest shift that we've seen in attitude is on greyhound racing.

Back in 2024, the survey found that 55% of people believe watching greyhounds being made to race was either somewhat or completely unacceptable.

That's now risen to 60%, making a very positive shift in the right direction.

This change in attitudes hasn't come out of nowhere.

Greyhound racing has received a lot of attention over the past couple of years.

And there have been a shift in attitude coinciding with some noteworthy legislative victories as well.

Scotland banned greyhound racing earlier this year.

I believe the Wales ban is due to come into effect early next year.

So there's been some positive results on greyhound racing and public opinion has shifted further and hopefully will continue to shift further against greyhound racing as the years progress and we continue to track this.

Another interesting finding would be on animal testing.

87% of the people that we surveyed consider testing cosmetic ingredients on animals to be somewhat or completely unacceptable.

That's up from 84% in 2024.

Animal testing on medicine also considered unacceptable by 71% of people.

I should mention to listeners that testing of such things is required by international regulations in almost all circumstances.

But public attitudes are shifting positively on animal testing, which, you know, in the UK especially, there have been some, you know, we, I think, are generally considered a bit of a, or we've prided ourselves on being a world leader on animal testing legislation here in the UK.

So, yeah, public opinion has shifted on that too.

Yeah.

We've also seen some interesting shifts on hunting and shooting as well.

Hunting deer is somewhat or completely unacceptable to 77% of people in the UK.

That's up from 74% in 2024.

Hunting foxes with dogs is considered unacceptable by 87% of people.

We also tested people's views on using snares or traps.

which is unacceptable to 85% of people.