Abstract:
The number of pet cats in South Korea has sharply increased since 2010. Problems have arisen with feral or stray cats, creating conflict among residents, to such an extent that the government provides some sites for people to offer feeding stations for the stray cats. This study investigated hypotheses on people\'s attitudes toward feral cats in Seoul, South Korea: (i) dog and cat owners would show more positive attitudes than non-owners toward feral cats; (ii) females would have more positive attitudes toward feral cats than males; (iii) the number of Seoul-provided feeding stations by district would be correlated with people\'s positive attitudes toward feral cats. Responses from 7,394 participants were used for the final analyses with 3,179 males, 3,607 females, and 599 others (includes \"decline to state\"). Cat owners reported more extremely positive attitudes toward feral cats than people who had no cats. Females more often had cats than males, and they were more extremely positive toward pet and feral cats than males, and strongly opposed to culling as a management strategy. The attitudes toward feral cats of people with only dogs were intermediate between people with cats and people without pets, more resembling those of people without pets. There was a correlation between the number of city-provided feeding stations and people\'s attitudes toward feral cats, but only in the areas with at least 40 feeder stations; having many city-provided feeding stations was associated with very negative attitudes to feral cats. Whether the very large number of feeding stations were provided in the two neighborhoods due to a previously excessive number of feral cats in those neighborhoods, vs. those feeding stations attracting or provisioning an ever-growing number of feral cats, is unknown. These results show sharp differences in attitudes between cat owners and non-owners, and between males and females. Results resemble findings in other studies, perhaps with more extreme differences between sub-groups. The study revealed that attitudes toward pet and feral cats in Seoul were complex and varied with pet ownership, with sex, and with neighborhood context.
摘要:
自2010年以来,韩国的宠物猫数量急剧增加。野猫或流浪猫出现了问题,在居民之间制造冲突,在某种程度上,政府提供了一些场所,让人们为流浪猫提供喂养站。这项研究调查了人们对首尔野猫态度的假设,韩国:(i)狗和猫的主人比非主人对野猫表现出更积极的态度;(ii)女性对野猫的态度比男性更积极;(iii)按地区划分的首尔提供的喂养站的数量将与人们对野猫的积极态度相关。来自7,394名参与者的反应被用于3,179名男性的最终分析,3,607名女性,和其他599人(包括“拒绝陈述”)。猫主人对野猫的态度比没有猫的人更加积极。雌性比雄性更经常养猫,它们对宠物和野猫比雄性更积极,并强烈反对将剔除作为一种管理策略。只有狗的人对野猫的态度介于有猫的人和没有宠物的人之间,更像那些没有宠物的人。城市提供的喂养站的数量与人们对野猫的态度之间存在相关性,但仅在至少有40个喂食站的地区;拥有许多城市提供的喂食站与对野猫非常消极的态度有关。是否由于两个街区以前过多的野猫而在这两个街区提供了大量的喂养站,vs.那些饲养站吸引或提供越来越多的野猫,是未知的。这些结果表明,猫主人和非主人之间的态度存在巨大差异,在男性和女性之间。结果与其他研究的结果相似,也许分组之间存在更极端的差异。研究表明,首尔对宠物和野猫的态度是复杂而多样的,关于性,和邻里背景。