Abstract

Recognizing pain in nonhuman animals and empathy toward them is important for modulating human-animal relationships and animal welfare. Few studies have assessed pain recognition and empathic responses toward animals based on sociodemographic characteristics, and even fewer have examined them in socioeconomically marginalized individuals. To address this issue, four instruments were applied to iota oo working horse caretakers. The socio-demographic and quality of life instruments were applied as interviews, and afterward two rating scales measuring empathy toward animals and the willingness to attribute pain to horses, in a diversity of painful conditions, were filled out. The results indicate that working horse caretakers have high levels of empathy and the willingness to attribute a high intensity of pain to equines in diverse situations that imply pain, but that neither socio-demographic status nor satisfaction with life quality were correlated with empathy toward animals or the willingness to attribute pain to horses.