爬蟲類寵物飼主知識與依附感對其動物福利之影響─以豹紋守宮為例

Abstract

爬蟲類於近年成為受歡迎的寵物選擇之一，全球飼養人數攀升，臺灣亦是；然而前人的研究指出過去的動物福利研究多集中在研究哺乳類及鳥類，近十年來，爬蟲類的動物福利才受到少數學者的關注。反觀臺灣，目前尚無對於爬蟲類進行動物福利相關的研究，為本研究的研究缺口。動物福利可分為倫理、科學、法律三種面向，本研究從科學面著手，進行臺灣爬蟲類寵物中豹紋守宮動物福利現況的探究，並以出自動物本身的動物福利指標衡量爬蟲類的動物福利。除此之外，研究者觀察到部分爬蟲類寵物處於動物福利不佳的狀態，其寵物飼主卻沒有意識到，或是不甚在意，這與國外的研究結果類似。過去的研究指出爬蟲類的需求時常是被低估的，錯誤的知識源自於網路上不可靠的訊息來源、飼主之間的資訊交流，以及寵物業者的宣傳話術，導致爬蟲類寵物受限於不符合動物福利科學觀及倫理觀的照顧方式，值得深入研究。有鑑於此，本研究亦探究動物福利不佳的情形，是否源自於知識的錯謬或情感上的匱乏。本研究方法採用問卷調查，以爬蟲類中豹紋守宮及其飼主作為研究對象，研究結果旨在反映寵物的動物福利表現、飼主對寵物需求的了解程度、情感程度、照顧適切程度，以及探討知識及情感對於寵物動物福利表現的影響力。研究結果顯示知識及情感對於飼主的照顧適切程度和寵物的動物福利表現皆具有預測力。此外，在本研究中女性和飼養個體數較少的飼主在知識、情感、照顧適切程度及動物福利表現上皆有較高的分數，飼養年資較短的飼主其寵物的動物福利表現較佳，可見飼養經驗較豐富的飼主並未有較佳的表現。Reptiles have become one of the popular pet choices in recent years globally, including in Taiwan. However, previous studies have pointed out that most animal welfare research only focused on mammals and birds. Until these ten years, some animal welfare research on reptiles has been published overseas. In contrast, there is no researches on the current status of reptile animal welfare in Taiwan currently. Animal welfare can be divided into three aspects: ethics, science, and law. This thesis explores the current situation of pet reptile animal welfare in Taiwan from the scientific aspect, using indicators based on the status of animals as the standards to measure animal welfare. In addition, the researcher observed that some reptile pets are led in a state of poor animal welfare, but their pet owners do not realize or do not care about their pets, which is similar to the results of previous studies. Past studies have pointed out that the needs of reptiles are often underestimated. Unreliable information sources on the internet and information flow between owners, and sales talks in the pet industry provide wrong knowledge. Reptiles are limited to unscientific and lacking ethical environment and resources. Therefore, this study will be supposed to explore whether poor animal welfare situations stem from knowledge gaps or from emotional deficits. The research employs a questionnaire survey, focusing on leopard geckos and their owners as the subjects. The results aim to reflect the welfare performance of the pets, the owners' understanding of their pets' needs, emotional engagement, and the appropriateness of care, as well as to explore the impact of knowledge and emotions on pet welfare performance. The findings indicate that both knowledge and emotional engagement significantly predict the appropriateness of care and the welfare performance of the pets. In this study, female owners and those with fewer pets exhibited higher scores in terms of knowledge, emotion, care appropriateness, and welfare performance. Owners with shorter pet-keeping experience demonstrated better pet welfare performance, indicating that more experienced owners did not necessarily perform better.