ATTITUDES OF ACADEMIC YOUTH TOWARDS THE WELFARE OF FARMED ANIMALS IN POLAND

The development of agriculture and rural areas depends on a large extent on the level of society's awareness on agriculture. One of the areas of agricultural awareness of citizens is their attitude towards the welfare of farmed animals. The findings of many studies indicate that the level of social awareness in Poland in this area is low, especially among young people. The aim of the study is to determine the attitudes of Polish academic youth towards the welfare of farmed animals and pinpoint selected factors determining this level. The main source of the data used for the analyses and applications was the primary information obtained from personal research. The research was done in 2016 by using PAPI method on the group of 450 people. The statistical analysis of the studied material encompassed aggregate statistical indicators as well as the non-parametric test "chi square" (chi(2)). Apart from the primary sources they also used secondary sources which encompassed both domestic as well as foreign literature. According to the conducted study, the majority of the participants had an average level of farmed animal welfare awareness (55%). One in three respondents had a low level of farmed animal welfare awareness, and the remaining group represented the high level. The determining factors were: gender, studied faculty, place of residence, and ownership of agricultural holding by the respondents or their parents. A higher level of farmed animal welfare awareness was characterized by women, students of humanistic faculties, people from rural areas as well as the respondents who didn't run a farm.