Animal welfare moves up the list of consumer concerns

Sunday, April 3, 2011

An Ipsos Reid poll commissioned by the Ontario Farm Animal Council has the care and treatment of animals as second only to food safety on the minds of Canadians

by DON STONEMAN

The importance of animal welfare issues is rising up a few notches in the awareness of Canadians.

The safety of the meat, milk and eggs they consume has always been the number one food and agricultural issue for a majority of Canadians through many years of polling by the Ontario Farm Animal Council (OFAC), says executive director Crystal Mackay.

From the Walkerton tragedy to 2008, the environment held a steady number two position.

In 2009, food safety was still first in the minds of 57 per cent of consumers polled, but the environment fell to number five. Replacing it in the number two spot is the care and treatment of animals on farms. It is still well below food safety, but a cause of concern for the Council, which is funded by many livestock groups in Ontario.

The same Ipsos Reid poll from 2009 said 50 per cent of consumers were most likely to have a warm or favourable impression of farmers. University scientists were second and humane societies were a close third. And that, too, is a cause for concern.

OFAC needs a strategy in place with its supply chain partners and a communications plan "so that when Galen Weston Jr. (executive chairman of Loblaws) gets a call from the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), he knows who he is dealing with, Mackay explains.

That plan will be discussed at the OFAC annual meeting in early April.

Why the Humane Society of the United States? Mackay says animal rights groups want to appear to be associated with humane societies for fundraising purposes. "We know from our public attitude study work that farmers and veterinarians are at the top when it comes to credibility about animal care." Organizations clearly identified as animal rights activists are way down near the bottom, she says.

The U.S. humane society's fund-raising machine draws in US$100 million a year, while People For the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), famous for its outrageous publicity campaigns, draws only about $20 million. We don't' pay much attention to PETA any more, Mackay says. But the average giver to charities has no idea how HSUS spends its money.

Mackay says that, according to Humanewatch.org, a watchdog group, only half of one per cent of the funds HSUS collects every year goes to animal shelters. "They put five per cent into their own company pension plan, just to give you an idea of their priorities," Mackay says.

Humanewatch.org fears that HSUS will gain "Red Cross status" and there's nothing they can do wrong, she says.

HSUS has a presence in Canada under the title of Humane Society International Canada and it fundraises with charitable status. Humane Society International Canada was behind the campaign in universities several years ago to buy cage-free eggs.

Animal rights groups want the public to think their views on how farm animals are raised are widely held. Last December, the Vancouver Humane Society touted a Harris-Decima poll it had commissioned, funded by the Vancouver Foundation, which claimed that nearly three quarters of Canadians said they would be willing to pay more for farm animal products that are certified humane.

"Studies are studies," says MacKay. "The way you word questions is critical. You can change the outcome by a subtle change in words. If you say animal care versus animal welfare versus animal wellbeing, you will get three different answers."

On top of that, what people say they will do and their actual buying habits are not necessarily the same, Mackay says. "I don't put any faith or stock in any surveys that talk about how much you are willing to pay more (for a product). We used to ask those questions, but it's a waste of time."

She cites the stagnant growth in speciality categories of eggs as an example. In 2009, eggs labelled free run, free range and organic totalled four per cent of all eggs sold in retail stores in Canada. In 2010, that number fell to three per cent. (Mackay attributes that drop to the uncertain economy. She acknowledges that demand for these types of eggs is probably six per cent in British Columbia.)

The Vancouver Humane Society has a strong animal rights and advocacy focus. Along with the Winnipeg Humane Society, it is part of the Canadian Coalition for Farm Animals, which is headed up by the Animal Alliance in Toronto. "They are not a typical humane society," Mackay says. BF