The almost tectonic shift from how Spain treated animals to how they are now treated took 40 years. One result is that the majority of Spaniards are against product testing on animals.

Now, there was alway a distinction between city dwellers from 40 years ago and rural inhabitants from that time, because in the cities pet owners were just like pet owner across the rest of Europe, with the pet being just another member of the family.

In the countryside, however, dogs and cats were like mules and donkeys; something that carried out a chore. Yes, of course, people in small towns and villages, for example had pet dogs and cats, (Laika was a very popular name for a pet dog) but in the campo, dogs were treated horribly with some being chained up all their lives, guarding a property. Campo dogs were wary of humans because they were virtually always mistreated by them.

In village fiestas (and we are citing particular municipalities) a priest would charge a duro (five pesetas) for a stone to be used for stoning rabbits to death. Another town thought it a good wheeze to throw a goat out of the church bell tower each year and another town on a river, would put a rope from one bank to the other, and have ducks and geese tied on by their necks; the challenge was to successfully float down with the current and grab hold on the bird until its head was ripped off… and we’re talking about the 80s. And why bother mentioning bullfighting, right?

What brought on these recollections of how things were is inspired by a recent questionnaire, entitled: Percepciones de la naturaleza y los animales, which consisted of a series of question with the instructions to decide which were acceptable and which were not.

The majority of the 2,033 people questioned (all above 18) viewed favourably veterinary research carried out for the welfare of animals: 6.5 with 10 being in complete agreement and zero being totally against. But the figure was lower when the testing on animals was for the good of humans (5.8).

This is the same poll that was carried out in 2008, 2013 and 2021, with testing on animals for human benefit dropping each time.

One of the questions was whether animals felt pain as we do, the results gave an average of 6.9 in 2008 against the 8.4 of this latest poll. You can only ask yourself, who the hell are the people that think animals don’t feel pain as we do?

The most strongly felt stance was opposition to bullfighting, circuses and cosmetics testing. A negative response was almost unanimous. Bullfighting threw up a result of 1.9 in favour and 1.8 didn’t even answer the question. Circuses dropped from 3.7 to 1.4 since 2021 and as for cosmetics, those in favour dropped from 2.8 to 1.3.

The statement that Planet Earth is a jewel that we must preserve got a resounding 9.6 out of 10; that Nature is a source of peace and tranquility (9.0 out of 10) whose equilibrium “is very delicate and easily put off balance by Human activity (8.5) That last past reflects the presence of Man-behind-climate-change deniers, perhaps

(News: Spain)

Keywords: Animal Testing, Cosmetics, Bullfighting, Public Opinion, Changing

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