The National Zoological Gardens of South Africa is an animal-based tourist attraction that needs to offer a competitive product in order to remain relevant and to meet its various mandates. Functioning within the experience economy it strives to stage experiences that satisfy the motivations and expectations of its visitors. The study aimed at determining who visits the zoo, what motivates them to visit the zoo as well as what their expectations are and whether the zoo meets their needs in this regard. It also aimed at determining whether or not different demographic groups had different needs and whether their specific needs were being met. The study employed two self-administered questionnaires, using convenience sampling, whereby visitors entering and leaving the zoo where requested to complete the questionnaires. The data was analysed using SAS 9.2 programme and a further G-Test for goodness of fit was performed to determined dependency between race demographic and response. A total of 572 entry questionnaires and 293 exit questionnaires were completed. The two largest demographic groups that visit the zoo are white and black visitors who responded as a relatively homogeneous group. It was concluded that there were not responses in these two groups that indicated dependency between race and response. For the smaller demographic groups some of responses indicated a dependency between race and response but these form a small component of the zoo’s visitors. A high revisit and referral intention are good indicators of visitor satisfaction with 279 indicating their intention to revisit and 277 to recommend the zoo to family and friends. This study emphasises the importance of understanding the motivations, expectations and satisfaction of demographic groups as part of effective experience management. / Dissertation (MPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / gm2014 / Tourism Management / unrestricted

From time immemorial human beings have utilized animals for various needs and purposes, which led societies to debate the justification for using animals and to reflect on the way in which animals are treated. These concerns have also resulted in various contemporary studies aimed to reveal interest groups'--as well as the general publics'--views and opinions on the issues under dispute. Nevertheless, despite the considerable incorporation of animals in entertainment and leisure venues, only limited efforts have been geared towards exploring the ethical aspects of using animals in these initiatives. This lack of attention is especially evident in the tourism literature, despite the great relevancy of animal-based attractions to the tourism industry. Moreover, despite certain preliminary attempts to investigate people's perceptions of the use of animals in attractions, their attitudes for the most part are still ambiguous and speculative. Consequently, the purpose of the current research was to fill these and other gaps in the literature by investigating tourists' attitudes toward various animal-based attractions. The theoretical framework used for the study was based on a previous exploratory qualitative research, which also assisted in developing the research questions and hypotheses as well as in constructing the study survey. Therefore, the current study's instrument attempts to cover the main aspects of tourists' attitudes as they appear both in the literature and in the exploratory study. The survey was conducted among 252 tourists to the Central Florida area, using judgmental sampling with the intent to ensure heterogeneity among the study sample. Prior to addressing the research questions, the study instrument was tested for reliability and validity, which were found to be at satisfactory levels. The statistical analyses revealed some interesting findings with important implications for both research and practice. While several inquiries were evaluated in the course of the dissertation, the central findings of the study concerned the prominent aspects of tourists' ethical evaluation of animal-based attractions. The tourists expressed the highest agreement with the roles of the attractions in conservation, in family-oriented experience, in education, and as an alternative to nature. They also expressed a clear animal welfare approach, as they put the greatest importance on the way the animals are treated and trained by their keepers among conditions for ethical operations. Nevertheless, it was found that the key to developing positive attitudes toward attractions is the conviction in general arguments in favor of their presence, while specific sites' attributes seem to be more limited in their influence on the tourists' overall attitudes. In addition, belief in the positive effects of public opinion on attractions' ethical treatment of animals was found to have a greater association with tourists' attitudes, in comparison to more formal supervision and regulations. No less important, the study's findings confirm the heterogeneous nature of animal-based attractions as perceived by tourists, where multiple dominant factors influence attitudes toward diverse attraction types. Following the description of the results, the dissertation offers specific recommendations based on the findings for the management and marketing functions in animal-based attractions, especially with regard to potential steps for the purpose of improving and enhancing their ethical image among tourists. The study can be seen as one of the few comprehensive attempts to investigate tourists' attitudes toward animal-based attractions in the tourism literature, which can also serve as a benchmark and a basis for future studies on this contentious issue. The paper ends with an assessment of the study's limitations, and a series of suggestions of relevant topics for future investigations.

La science du bien-être animal est une discipline bien établie qui permet de faire des mesures objectives. Les grands dauphins (Tursiops truncatus) sont une espèce de cétacés communément présente en captivité, et bien que des questions se posent sur la qualité de leur vie dans cet environnement, très peu d'études ont porté sur la mesure objective de leur bien-être. Cette thèse répond à ce manque de données en développant des indicateurs de bien-être basé sur l’animal, ici le grand dauphin. Une revue bibliographique initiale a identifié des mesures potentielles de bien-être, avant que des indicateurs comportementaux choisis aient été mesurés par rapport aux sessions d’entrainement. Un test de biais de jugement a alors été adapté aux dauphins, où des biais optimistes ont été significativement liés aux fréquences les plus hautes de nage synchronisée durant leur 'temps libre' et aux fréquences les plus basses de comportement anticipatoire avant les sessions d’entrainement. Une avant dernière étude a montré que le comportement anticipatoire prédisait la participation à l'événement à venir, et que des Interactions Humaines-Animales positives étaient anticipées plus que l’introduction de jouets. Une dernière expérience en cours a développé un protocole standardisé pour mesurer la motivation des dauphins pendant des sessions d’entrainement par rapport aux problèmes de bien-être sociaux et de santé. Bien que le bien-être global soit toujours difficile à mesurer, cette thèse propose des premières mesures d'émotions et d’états affectifs chez le dauphin. La nage synchronisée est un indicateur probable d'émotions positives, bien que plus de recherches doivent examiner la variabilité entre divers contextes. Le comportement anticipatoire semble témoigner de la motivation pour des événements à venir et nous suggérons qu'il reflète une sensibilité à la récompense comme chez d'autres animaux : des travaux ultérieurs portant sur des seuils de fréquence le transformerait en indicateur de bien-être pertinent. Un objectif majeur de la thèse est de stimuler plus de recherches sur des mesures de bien-être chez des grands dauphins et d'autres espèces de cétacés en captivité. / Welfare science is now an established discipline which enables objective measurements of animal welfare to be made. Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) are a common cetacean species kept in captivity, and although questions are arising over their quality of life in this environment, very few studies have focussed on objectively measuring their welfare. This thesis aimed to address this lack of data by developing animal-based indicators of bottlenose dolphin welfare. An initial review identified potential dolphin welfare measures, before selected behavioural indicators were measured in relation to training sessions. A judgement bias test was then adapted to dolphins, where optimistic biases were significantly linked to higher frequencies of synchronous swimming in their ‘free-time’ and lower frequencies of anticipatory behaviour before training sessions, (concurring with there ward-sensitivity theory). A penultimate study showed that anticipatory behaviour predicted participation in the upcoming event, and positive Human-Animal Interactions were anticipated more than access to toys. A final, on-going experiment has developed and applied a standardised protocol for measuring dolphins’motivation during training sessions in relation to social and health-related welfare problems. Although overall welfare is still difficult to measure, this thesis has proposed some first measures of dolphin emotions and affective states. Synchronous swimming is a likely indicator of positive emotions and social support, although more research should investigate variability between contexts. Anticipatory behaviour seemed to indicate motivation for events, and we suggest it reflects reward sensitivity as in other animals : further work into frequency thresholds would render it a valuable welfare indicator. A major objective of the thesis is to stimulate more research on welfare measures for bottlenose dolphins and other cetacean species in captivity.

Standard measures used in animal welfare assessments include animal-based measures obtained by observing animals, resource-based measures obtained by observing facilities, and management-based measures obtained by interviewing farmers and checking records. Animal welfare assessments are composed of a variety of measures and can be very different from each other. The objectives of the research presented in this thesis were to investigate inter-observer reliability of three swine welfare assessment programs (ACA™, PQA Plus®, and Welfare Quality®), and to determine the concordance of rankings across the 3 assessments. All assessments and all types of measures were found to be highly reliable. Moderate concordance was found for the rankings of farms across all three assessments. The lowest ranked farms were correlated, indicating that all assessments identified the farms with the lowest levels of animal welfare. Results of this study can be used to identify the best measures and revise current on-farm animal welfare assessments. / Canadian Swine Research and Development Cluster, a Growing Canadian Agri-Innovation Program – Canadian Agri-Science Cluster Initiative of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC); and the Ontario Pork Council

Syftet var att beskriva arbetsterapeuters upplevelser av djur- och/eller naturunderstödd rehabilitering i arbetsterapeutiska interventioner för personer med stressrelaterad ohälsa. Metoden var av kvalitativ design med ett induktivt angreppssätt. Ett avsiktligt urval i kombination med ett snöbollsurval användes vid rekrytering av deltagare. Undersökningsgruppen bestod av tio arbetsterapeuter i Sverige. Datainsamling genomfördes med hjälp av individuella semistrukturerade intervjuer. Dataanalys utfördes med en kvalitativ innehållsanalys.  Resultatet mynnade ut i ett övergripande tema: Djuren och naturens betydelse för rehabilitering av stressrelaterad ohälsa. Fem kategorier identifierades: Djurens och naturens lugnande effekt, Medveten närvaro, Kravlös rehabilitering, Aktivitetsbalans och Naturens symboliska betydelse, med tillhörande 13 underkategorier.  Slutsatsen som drogs var att arbetsterapeuterna upplevde att medverkan av djur och/eller natur i arbetsterapeutiska interventioner var effektivt vid rehabilitering av stressrelaterad ohälsa. Resultatet indikerade att djuren och naturen hjälper patienterna att bli lugnare, komma ner i varv och att vara medvetet närvarande. Genomgående vittnade arbetsterapeuterna om djurens och naturens positiva inverkan på patienternas hälsa och tillfrisknande. / The purpose was to describe occupational therapists' experiences of animal- and/or nature-based rehabilitation for people with stress related illness.  The Method was of qualitative design with an inductive approach. A purposive sampling in combination with a snowball sampling was used when recruiting participants. The study group was based on ten occupational therapists in Sweden. Collection of data was implemented by individual semi structured interviews. Data analysis was performed with a qualitative content analysis.  The result culminated into a theme: The importance of animal and nature in rehabilitation for people with stress related illness. Five categories where identified: The calming effect of the animals and nature, Mindfulness, Unpretentious rehabilitation, Occupational balance, The symbolic significance of nature, with associated 13 subcategories.  The conclusion drawn was that occupational therapists experienced that the participation of animal and/or nature in occupational interventions was effective in rehabilitation of stress related illness. The result indicated that the animal and nature help the patients to calm down, unwind and being conscionably present. Pervading the occupational therapists described that the animal and nature have positive effects on the patients' health and recovery.

The demand and consumption of food products created by the livestock- and fishing industries, have a major environmental impact, affecting climate change, biodiversity, and ecosystems. Yet, there seems to be a lack of public awareness of the direct impact one’s choice of food has on the environment, which suggests that more effective efforts are needed in order to introduce the concept to consumers. By the influence of a post-humanist perspective, this thesis investigates how the environmental impact of consuming animal-based food is communicated by Swedish environmental non-governmental organizations, and how the organizations are actively working to change consumers’ dietary habits by selecting more sustainable options. The research has focused on the external communication channels of the organizations, where verbiage and imagery have been analyzed in context, by using an analytical perspective of a constructionist view of communication, of where I acknowledge that communication has changed in our digital society. The findings indicated that the organizations are showing clear efforts and willingness of communicating the environmental impact of consuming animal-based food, although these efforts remain quite limited. The promotion of a plant-based diet as a way to help mitigate climate change was also communicated to a fair extent, but the organizations seemed to be privileging the preferences of consumers for animal-based food products over the actual need for them. Given that scientific evidence has shown that human consumption of animal-based food products has a major environmental impact, the overall produced knowledge by the organizations’ communication of consuming such products is still lacking. This suggests that more effective communication efforts are still needed, given the severity of the issue, which requires a drastic social change in eating habits as currently practiced in developed nations, in order to effectively mitigate climate change.

Vi påverkas av allt runt omkring oss vilket direkt eller indirekt styr våra beslut av matval. Tidigare studier indikerar vikten av en balanserad kosthållning med ett likvärdigt intag av animalisk och växtbaserad protein för en hälsofrämjande livshållning. Studiens syfte var att ta del av allmänhetens kunskap och val kring proteiner. En webbaserad enkätundersökning delades ut via sociala medier för ett bredare urval. Bland de 105 respondenterna fanns en överrepresentation inom åldrarna 18-32 år och majoriteten var högutbildade. De främsta skälen till deras val av proteiner var pris, smak och djurhållning. Trots hög andel med universitetsutbildning var kunskapsnivån bristande kring proteiner och dess ändamål. Slutsatsen av studien pekar på vikten av kontinuerlig och uppdaterad information för att rätt kunskap ska erhållas av individerna. Detta är något som hälsovägledare kan bidra med. / Humans are affected from their surrounding which may control our choices when it comes to food intake. Previous studies highlights the importance of a balanced nutrition which contains equal intake of animal and plant-based protein for the health outcome. The aim of this study is to find out people's knowledge and options of proteins. A web-based survey was sent out via social media in order to gain a wide ranging variety in participants. Amongst the participants, there was a preponderance amongst persons between the ages of 18-32 and people with higher education. The foremost reasons the respondents gave about their choices were costs (price), taste and animal agriculture. Although mainly were highly educated, the results of the study showed lack of knowledge about protein and its purpose. This leaves us to the conclusion that the profession as health promoters is needed to provide continuously and updated information to the public in order to maintain a state of good health.

The diploma thesis deals with the paradox that arises based on a conflict of actions and opinions on the consumption of animal products. The aim of the work was to reveal the social factors that cause this discrepancy, assuming that social factors play an important role. This assumption is based on the consideration of meat as a social construct rooted in culture, and thus the consumption of meat is examined in this paper not as an individual decision but as a result of the influences of different institutions and social structures. This paradox is being studied on ecologically active individuals, and it is assumed that in this case the discrepancy between opinions on animal products and actual behaviour will be even more pronounced. The conclusion of the work reveals as one of the most important factors family and traditions, which cause that individuals are afraid of exclusion from the social group of the family and at the same time they want to be true to traditions. Respondents often preferred to conform to members of the groups to which they belong or to culture and traditions. The work also deals with the guilt caused by this discrepancy, taking into account the impact of ecology as an external factor.

<p>Accumulating evidence from randomized-controlled, full-feeding trials suggests neutral to beneficial effects of consuming lean and unprocessed red meat within a healthy dietary pattern on cardiovascular health. It is unclear how red meat interacts with the dietary pattern and the host in mediating its health effects. The gut microbiome provides a novel perspective in understanding the diet-host relationship for its abilities to metabolize dietary components including those within red meat and influence cardiovascular health. Prior to starting our study, we identified a lack of evidence in the English literature for the effects of consuming lean red meat, in unprocessed or processed forms, on gut microbiota in the context of a controlled healthy dietary pattern. Our findings presented in this dissertation demonstrate differential effects of consuming unprocessed versus processed red meat on gut microbiota. Consistent with previous research, we observed cardiovascular improvements induced by the healthy dietary pattern independent of lean red meat intakes among young adults with apparently healthy cardiovascular profiles. Importantly, with three intervention periods, we found consistent and reproducible changes in both gut microbiota and cardiovascular risk factors when repeatedly adopting and abandoning a healthy dietary pattern. Collectively, findings in this dissertation highlight the importance of gut microbiota in potentially mediating or responding to diet-induced cardiovascular improvements. Future research should investigate the changes in the function of gut microbiota induced by healthy dietary patterns containing red meat. Studies assessing the unique food matrix of processed versus unprocessed animal- or plant-based protein-rich foods are also warranted. Additionally, dietary strategies should focus on promoting healthy dietary modifications and enhancing dietary adherence for long-term cardiovascular benefits. </p>

The importance of stress management is emphasized throughout this study as well as the need to cater stress management programmes to the unique needs of individuals. The possibility of introducing an animal-assisted stress management programme into the work environment is explored by means of a qualitative study in order to test out the feasibility of such an intervention. The positive physical and psychological effects animals have on humans has been extensively researched and reported. Eleven participants were randomly chosen from within the same department by means of purposive sampling. Semi-structured interviews were held with each participant and thematic analysis was used to analyse the transcribed interviews. Various themes were identified and explored with the most prominent highlighting the need for privacy, respect and connection. Although animals do have positive effects on some employees, there are individual differences that need to be considered. An electronic animal-assisted stress management intervention is recommended. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)