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Report on Pets or Profit? Your Take on Animal Rights
Smart girls decide for themselves™.
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In August 2006 all of us here at SmartGirl were interested in finding out how animal-friendly you really are! Read on to learn how SmartGirls feel about animal rights.
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In August, 247 of you completed the survey to give us an idea of how you feel about animal rights. You answered questions about your attitudes and practices toward animals including: if you own pets, whether you include meat in your daily diet, and if you support the selling and use of animals for profit. We received responses from an extremely diverse population of SmartGirls. Among those who responded to the survey:
- 228 were girls
- 5 were boys
- 14 SmartGirl users didn't specify
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Respondents ranged from age nine to over twenty-two years old. Of all those who responded:
- 109 users were the oldest child
- 36 users were the middle child
- 55 were the youngest child
- 32 were being the only child
- 15 didn't specify their order in the family
Check out the graph below to see how our SmartGirl users place in their family.
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| SmartGirls and Their Birth Order |
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| The graph shows that most of our SmartGirl respondents are the oldest in their family but they come from a variety of different birth orders. |
Our SmartGirl survey respondents also come from a variety or racial/ethnic backgrounds:
- 27 African
- 18 Asian
- 91 European
- 11 Latin
- 4 Middle Eastern
- 8 Native American
- 5 Pacific Islander.
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The survey also shows that SmartGirl users come from many different countries, though the majority, 136, come from the United States. They also live in different settings with the majority living in towns (75) and suburbs (64) and the others living in cities (34), rural areas (21), and villages (17).
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SmartGirls reported owning:
- dogs (124)
- cats (103)
- fish (76)
- birds (26)
Look at the graph below to see the variety of pets SmartGirls own.
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| What Kind of Pets Do you Own? |
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| Most of our SmartGirl respondents own the most common pets (cats and dogs) but some own reptiles and farm animals too! |
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We were also interested in learning about how many SmartGirl families raise their pets to sell for profit. Among the respondents, the majority answered that their families do not sell their pets, however, some reported that their pets such as pigs (2), sheep (1), and chicks (4) are sold.
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As part of our survey we wanted to know if SmartGirls eat meat.
- 181 eat meat
- 31 don't eat red meat
- 23 don't eat meat at all
- 4 are vegans
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Similarly, most of the respondents reported that they grew up in households that ate meat (212). However, some SmartGirls described growing up in households that ate no red meat (17), followed a veggie diet (9), or stuck to a strict vegan diet (1).
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We also asked our SmartGirls what would be the best reason for them to go vegetarian or vegan. Most of our SmartGirls replied that they don't think using animals for food is okay (87). A high number of respondents also answered that there is no reason to go vegetarian or vegan (80). Others replied that they don't like the effect the meat industry has on the environment (24) or they don't like the way meat tastes (12).
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When we asked our SmartGirls if most of their families or friends agree with their choice to eat or not eat meat most of the respondents strongly agreed (107) while 81 agreed, 30 disagreed, and 18 strongly disagreed that they had the support of their families and friends. The graph below displays SmartGirl users' attitudes on whether their families and friends agree with their choice to eat or not eat meat.
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| Do SmartGirls Agree That Their Families and Friends Support Their Food Choices? |
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count | percent |
f&f
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| str_agree |
107 | 45.34 |
| agree |
81 | 34.32 |
| dis |
30 | 12.71 |
| str_dis |
18 | 7.63 |
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| The majority of SmartGirls agreed that their family and friends support their choice to eat meat or not eat meet. |
We asked our SmartGirls if they think schools should be able to serve meat as part of their lunch menu:
- 194 said that they should be able to serve meat, but they should provide vegetarian options as well
- 20 said they should be allowed to serve meat
- 13 said they shouldn't be allowed to serve meat
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We were also interested in finding out how many of you believe that animals experience the same kind of pain as humans. Here are your responses:
- 185 agreed that animals do feel the same kind of pain
- 49 agreed that animals do not feel the same kind of pain
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| Do Animals Experience the Same Kinds of Pain as Humans? |
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| A staggering majority of you said that they do feel the same kinds of pain as humans. |
- 101 said "yes"
- 73 said "no"
- 61 said "not sure"
Of the SmartGirls who responded that they do own goods made by animal products we wanted to know what kinds of goods do they own. The majority said they own leather accesories (84), leather furniture (64), glue (37), and leather clothes (21).
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We wanted to know if SmartGirls have ever been hunting:
- 16 have been hunting
- 216 have never been hunting
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Similarly, we asked our users if they ever would go hunting if given the chance:
- 119 said "No, I would never go hunting."
- 81 said "Yes, but only in really desperate circumstances (like if I was stranded on an island and had to survive)."
- 23 said "Yes, I think I would go hunting."
- 13 said "Yes, I already go hunting now!"
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The majority of our SmartGirls (109) agreed that hunting is only appropriate when you need food to survive, 58 said hunting is appropriate if you use or eat what you kill, 45 said hunting is never appropriate, and 6 said it's always appropriate.
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We asked SmartGirls what they think about hunting endangered animals:
- 180 said "They should definitely never be hunted".
- 43 said "It's okay to hunt them for food but not just for the thrill of it".
- 9 said "We should let people hunt them- interfering with natural patterns of extinction is wrong".
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We asked our SmartGirls if animal testing should be used for products like shampoo or makeup:
- 96 said they are fine with using animals for more serious tests about disease, but not for things like this
- 91 said animal testing is wrong no matter what for
- 25 said as long as the animals are kept and killed humanely, it's worth it
- 18 said they think it's fine
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We also wanted to know how our users feel about animal testing to research diseases:
- 95 said using them for testing is wrong
- 63 said testing rats and hamsters is fine, but more advanced animals like chimpanzees is wrong
- 46 said as long as the animals are kept and killed humanely, it's worth it
- 17 said they're all for it
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| Is it okay to do animal testing for research purposes? |
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| Most of our SmartGirls agreed that animal testing is wrong. |
We asked SmartGirls how many laws the government should have for animal treatment:
-105 said some- The meat industry should have harsher laws about how they treat animals.
- 76 said a few- We don't need that many laws, but people shouldn't be allowed to kill or abuse their pets!
- 31 said a lot of laws- This whole country should go vegetarian, and all animals should legally have to be treated humanely.
- 14 said no laws- People shouldn't be mean to animals, but it's not the government's job to regulate it.
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When asked how many of you have been to a circus, Sea World, or other places involving trained animals:
-200 of you said you have
-27 of you said you haven't
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Of all the SmartGirls who responded, a majority(149), of you said people should be allowed to train animals and show them off for money while a smaller portion, 80 respondents, said people shouldn't be able to show them off for money.
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Here are some of the responses SmartGirls like you sent in to explain how much meat you eat, why you choose to eat or not eat meat, and how your diet choice shapes your everyday experiences:
- "I only eat fish a couple times a week. I've never had stuff like chicken, cow, pig or anything like that, because my parents raised me that way. They always gave me the option of eating meat when we went out, but I never do that. I guess I just love animals too much. A few of my friends are mostly vegetarian like me, but the ones that aren't respect my choice. Some kids used to give me a hard time, saying "how can you not have ever had a hamburger? It's so good!" But you can't miss what you've never tried, and I'm proud I don't eat meat".
- "I eat meat according to a food pyramid. I chose to eat meat because I think it is essential to have the nutrients that are found in meat. I don't believe it changes my life very much at all".
- "I probably eat meat once or twice a day. We raise beef cattle and I know that our cattle are killed humanely (through euthanasia). I am just fine eating that. I don't think that my life would be that different if I didn't eat meat once a day."
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Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts
with us!
Please remember that all web-based polls
are not scientific because the pollsters cannot randomly select the
respondents to participate in the surveys.
All our surveys are anonymous; check out our privacy
policy. All data copyright 1996-2000.
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