Conhecimento e posicionamento dos discentes de medicina veterinária sobre bem-estar animal no ensino e na pesquisa

Abstract

Debates and discussions on animal welfare are common nowadays, both in society and in the institutions of education and research. The biocentric paradigm has been causing changes in human-animal interaction, based on that, the objective was to investigate the knowledge of students from the veterinary medicine in the second half of 2012 of the Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, head office, about animal welfare and the positioning regarding the use of animals in teaching and research. For this, it was conducted an exploratory research on a sample of 270 students, using a semi-structured questionnaire containing 20 questions. The students were organized into three groups: group I (group of beginners - first, second and third periods), group II (group of intermediaries - fifth, sixth and seventh periods) and group III (group of graduates - eighth, ninth and tenth periods), in order to compare and evaluate better the data. The students of the fourth and eleventh periods not enrolled. The first because the statistical results did not alter the research being excluded to standardize the survey and the second, the students were not at the university due to mandatory supervised. The results showed that 81.1% of students did not know what it meant to the five freedoms, 86.3% did not answer what was the ethics committee on animal use (CEUA) and 96.7% were unaware of the concept of the 3 R's in animal welfare. Regarding the use of animals in teaching and research, 84.3% came out in favor, albeit with restrictions. From the data, it was conclude that the information about animal welfare transmitted transdisciplinary way, were not sufficient nor satisfactory demonstrating a real need for changes in methodology or pedagogical proposal aiming to improve the course, as well as meet the demands of non-harmful use of animals in teaching and research, thus contributing to the ethical advancement in human-animal relationship.