Lundmark Hedman Frida, Ewerlöf Ivana R, Frössling Jenny, Berg Charlotte
Department of Applied Animal Science and Welfare, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Skara, Sweden.
Department of Epidemiology, Surveillance and Risk Assessment, Swedish Veterinary Agency (SVA), Uppsala, Sweden.
Front Vet Sci. 2025 Apr 25;12:1575471. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2025.1575471. eCollection 2025.
The presence of a trustworthy and effective animal welfare control system is important both for animal welfare and for public and consumer trust. The inspectors' main task, regardless of whether they are official inspectors or private auditors, is to check for and enforce compliance with any relevant regulations. The aim of this study was to investigate how official animal welfare inspectors and private animal welfare auditors in Sweden perceive their inspection work and to explore any differences in the perception of being an inspector between these two groups. An electronic questionnaire was developed and received responses from 108 official inspectors and 22 private auditors (mainly inspecting the KRAV standard, Arlagården®, and the Trotter Health Standard). The results show that the official inspectors and private auditors usually enjoy their work, and they quite often have similar ambitions and views on what characterizes a good inspector. The respondents stated, for example, that it is important to have good dialog with the inspected animal keeper, that it is important to make uniform assessments (even if this can be challenging to achieve), and that animal keepers quite often show their appreciation after an inspection. However, there were also a number of differences in perception between the groups. For example, the official inspectors felt more exposed to unpleasant and threatening situations, while the private auditors were more likely to report the keeper being expected as acting nicely, professionally and relaxed during routine inspections. The official inspectors had a slightly more negative attitude toward the presence of private auditors than the other way around. Nevertheless, the respondents were in agreement that their collaboration and communication needed to be improved. One should bear in mind that the official inspectors also carry out inspections after complaints and more often make unannounced inspections. They not only inspect farms and horse premises, as the private auditors do, they also inspect different pet premises and have a secondary position of power as representatives of the government compared to the private auditors. These various circumstances may partly explain different views and perceptions between the official inspectors and the private auditors.
一个值得信赖且有效的动物福利监管系统的存在，对于动物福利以及公众和消费者信任而言都很重要。检查员的主要任务，无论他们是官方检查员还是私人审计员，都是检查并强制遵守任何相关规定。本研究的目的是调查瑞典的官方动物福利检查员和私人动物福利审计员如何看待他们的检查工作，并探讨这两组人员在对检查员身份认知上的差异。我们设计了一份电子问卷，并收到了108名官方检查员和22名私人审计员（主要检查KRAV标准、Arlagården®和 Trotter健康标准）的回复。结果表明，官方检查员和私人审计员通常都喜欢他们的工作，并且他们在对优秀检查员的特质方面往往有相似的抱负和看法。例如，受访者表示，与接受检查的动物饲养者进行良好对话很重要，进行统一评估很重要（即使这可能难以实现），而且动物饲养者在检查后经常会表达感激之情。然而，两组人员在认知上也存在一些差异。例如，官方检查员感觉更容易面临不愉快和有威胁性的情况，而私人审计员更有可能报告饲养者在例行检查中表现得友好、专业且轻松。官方检查员对私人审计员的存在态度略显消极，反之亦然。尽管如此，受访者一致认为他们的合作与沟通需要改进。应该记住，官方检查员也会在接到投诉后进行检查，并且更多时候是进行突击检查。他们不仅像私人审计员那样检查农场和马场，还会检查不同的宠物场所，并且作为政府代表，与私人审计员相比，他们处于次要权力地位。这些不同情况可能部分解释了官方检查员和私人审计员之间不同的观点和认知。
