RSPCA- The Big Conversation

National World - LocalTV

The RSPCA are inviting people across the North east to have their sat on their future of animal welfare in the country as part of their new initiative Animal Futures: The Big Conversation. I spoke with Gemma Hope to find out more and how you can get involved.

Transcript

00:00The RSPCA launched Animal Futures, a big conversation.

00:03It's the opportunity for everyone across the country,

00:06including those in the North East,

00:08to take part in a conversation about animals.

00:11This idea was sparked from last year.

00:13We did a big piece of work looking at

00:15what the future holds for animals in this country

00:19with factors like climate change, technology,

00:23opportunities like lab-grown meat,

00:27looking at how it all would affect animal welfare.

00:30So in your report, it said that 24% of people

00:32in the North East would be interested

00:34in adding a robot pet to their family.

00:36To many, this seems like quite a bizarre statement,

00:39but what are the genuine concerns surrounding this?

00:42Yeah, so a quarter of people would be interested

00:45in getting a robot pet.

00:47We found this a really surprising statistic

00:49because, to be frank, we're a nation of animal lovers

00:54and nothing can really break that bond

00:55between people and animals.

00:57However, robot pets, as the statistic shows,

01:00are really growing in popularity,

01:02particularly amongst younger people,

01:04with 42% of millennials saying

01:07that they're interested in getting a robot pet.

01:09So there are some real positive ways

01:11you could use a robot pet.

01:14However, we are concerned about it

01:16because we already rehome 28,000 animals every year.

01:21We have over a million calls

01:22to our helpline about cruelty and neglect.

01:25And so if you're doing something

01:27to disconnect people more from animals,

01:30it means that when they do interact with animals,

01:32they might not know how best to do it and cause harm,

01:35or not recognize that animals are sentient beings

01:39and treat them really badly.

01:41So that's why we're really concerned about that statistic.

01:43And the enthusiasm for robot pets that's out there

01:47is we want to take people's input

01:49and then we want to take a report back to government

01:51saying this is what the public think.

01:53We want to have a change for animals

01:55and hopefully the government acts on that

01:56and takes animal welfare seriously.

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