Community demographics and the propensity to report animal cruelty

The last decade has seen an increased awareness concerning links between violence to animals and violence to humans. This has resulted in a number of cross-reporting initiatives between family service providers and animal welfare organisations. The success of such initiatives rests upon individuals being willing to report such violence. Thus there is a need to determine which variables influence an individual’s willingness to report deliberate animal cruelty/abuse. The aim of the current study was to examine demographic and attitudinal variables to ascertain their impact upon propensity to report deliberate animal harm. A telephone questionnaire resulted in 1208 valid responses from members of the general community. Results showed a number of variables which impacted upon the propensity to report including gender, occupation and acknowledgement of the link between family violence and deliberate animal harm. These variables and their implications are discussed