Hästhållares uppfattning av Länsstyrelsens tillsyn i Halland
In the beginning of 2009 The County Administrative Boards assumed the responsibility of animal welfare, a task previously performed by the individual municipalities. This transfer was made with the aim of achieving more efficient and equivalent animal welfare controls across the country. Previous studies among animal owners have shown a somewhat negative image of animal welfare controls. This study focuses on investigating the experiences of the horse keepers in the County of Halland concerning animal welfare. The study is based on a questionnaire which was sent to 423 horse keepers in Halland, of which 130 were returned with information that laid the foundation of this study. The results show that the horse keepers mainly have a positive opinion of the animal welfare work. They also find the laws and regulations easy to understand. Most horse keepers have a positive attitude towards animal welfare controls and they also consider the animal welfare work to be sufficient. They consider themselves being well-informed on the laws and regulations concerning horse keeping. The positive opinion of animal welfare by horse keepers, indicated by this study, is a very interesting outcome. The negative image of animal welfare that has previously been illustrated by several studies could be due to various reasons. No matter what the reason is it is important to have an open dialogue between horse keepers and the authorities to achieve an effective relationship. The conclusion of this study is that the negative opinions of the animal welfare work that were suspected among the horse keepers may not represent the majority.