human-animal studies

Understanding public perceptions of donkeys and donkey welfare within a sanctuary setting

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The Donkey Sanctuary (Sidmouth, Devon) has been receiving visitors since its inception over 50 years ago. To date, there has been little research to understand public perceptions of (and encounters with) donkeys on site and how these on-site experiences reflect and shape public ideas about animal welfare, including the concept of a 'sanctuary' and a 'good life' (FAWC, 2009) for donkeys. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to explore the relationship between visitor experiences, perceptions and ideas of animal welfare within a sanctuary settling. In other words, what do visitor experiences and perceptions tell us about how animal welfare is being imagined, interpreted and understood in the context of a sanctuary - and how does this potentially influence views of animal welfare outside of a sanctuary setting? This research will contribute to the organisation's strategy by informing our understanding of how visitors learn about donkeys, what they perceive as good welfare and how our educational material can help to inform their understanding of TDS work and the welfare of donkeys. It will also help us to better understand our supporters and wider visitors, and identify opportunities to engage them further in our work to improve donkey welfare, raise awareness of donkeys and contribute vital knowledge in the fields of human-animal studies and animal welfare. 

Methodology

This research applies a twofold methodology to better understand public experiences and perceptions on site, using:

(a) Emotional mapping - a participatory approach that enables the representation of subjective, emotional and/or affective responses to a space or place. This method will be used to identify emotional "hotspots" at The Donkey Sanctuary (areas that have significance for the public, physically, emotionally, spiritually) and understand these in relation to ideas/perceptions of donkeys and donkey welfare.

(2) Emplaced and mobile interviews - established methods in human geography that will be used to elicit public responses to the donkeys in the context of their environment, which will in turn, tell us something about public perceptions of donkeys and donkey welfare in a sanctuary setting. Interviews will be used alongside the emotional mapping exercise to enrich/give depth to the cartographic information.

Aims

Explore the relationship between visitor experiences, perceptions and ideas/understandings of animal welfare at a sanctuary - unpacking the concept of "sanctuary" in the process. To frame this as a question: What do visitor experiences and perceptions tell us about how animal welfare is being imagined, interpreted and understood in the context of a sanctuary? (See below for further breakdown of questions).

Objectives

RQ1. How do the public perceive and interpret the life/experience of a 'sanctuary donkey' based on their visits to The Donkey Sanctuary? What ideas do they come away with (a) in relation to donkey sentience and intelligence and (b) in terms of what a sanctuary life is like for donkeys? 
RQ2. In what ways (if at all) does the wider offering at the sanctuary (e.g. the landscape and nature, walking routes, views of the sea, the memorial aspects of the site) contribute to ideas of animal welfare and a "good life" for donkeys? Related: To what extent is the physical environment/space a factor in shaping perceptions described in RQ1? 
RQ3. What knowledge is generated on site with/by the public and how is it generated (e.g. through direct encounters with donkeys, through interactions with grooms, through information boards etc?). 

Donkey discourse: Corpus linguistics and charity communications for improved animal welfare

A corpus linguistic approach has been applied to examine the representation of donkeys in public discourses for an international equid welfare charity (The Donkey Sanctuary) with a view to improving the British public's understanding of the roles of donkeys, in Britain and worldwide. By increasing understanding of public perceptions, this study aims to support improvements in donkey welfare through targeted education.

The study explored patterning in public discourses about donkeys (online and print news and social media) using corpus linguistic (CL) techniques and tools, supplemented with methods from discourse analysis. The findings highlight key representations of donkeys in public and media discourses that are not present in informed discourses about the animals. In this paper, we examine the results of the corpus study from the perspective of one current aim from The Donkey Sanctuary's public engagement strategy: to promote understanding of donkeys as sentient beings with the capacity to experience a wide range of emotional responses to events or situations.

We found that donkey experience is more subtly represented in the discourses than other aspects of donkey lives, such as actions and behaviours, which have more obvious, overt representations. The results demonstrate the value of applying the CL framework for researchers and practitioners involved in textual analysis for charity communications and public awareness campaigns. We discuss the implications that our findings have for donkey welfare—and animal welfare more generally—as well as what such a methodology could offer other organisations providing public education and/or relying on philanthropic support from the public.


 

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2
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2
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