Exploración sobre las actitudes de los habitantes de la localidad de Sante Fé (Bogotá D.C.) asociadas con la tenencia del gato doméstico Felis Catus y la depredación de fauna silvestre: Proyección para una estrategia de educación ambiental

Abstract

Undoubtedly the tenancy of companion animals plays a fundamental role in contemporary society in an approach to satisfy diverse human needs, have enabled the positioning of them as a part and extension of our society, not only part of human ecology, but the human in turn, behaves as the major component in the evolution and survival of dogs and cats. However, this human - animal relationship has also brought with it negative nuances that have an impact on health, animal welfare and the environment, consequences that are undoubtedly attributable to inadequate human behaviour patterns that can affect other species around them in urban or semi-urban environments, mainly in birds, reptiles and small mammals. In this research under the premise of deepening in the district context the animal-human bond, explored the general attitudes that have the domestic cat owners felis catus inhabitants in the transition zone with the cerros orientales of the borough of Santa Fé (Bogotá D.C.), for the predatory potential of wildlife, through quantitative research under the design, validation and application of an instrument based on the Likert scale (Strongly agree, agree, neither agreement nor disagreement, in disagreement and strongly disagree) that allowed through statistical analysis, to establish the main associations between the three groups of established attitudes that were configured on cat tenancy, on the predatory behaviour of the cat and an approach to wildlife; in turn, the relationship with demographic patterns related to them. Among the general results, it was found that there is a general belief in the perceived "self-sufficiency" of the cat, which may be establishing inadequate tenancy patterns by leaving the individuals at their mercy depending on the context of care. The balance is more directed towards wanting the cat behaves more like a biological controller of synanthropic animals not knowing this as a potential factor of collateral damage to wildlife. There is evidence of the underestimation of the predatory capacity of the respondents' cats, factors that influence an anti-confinement attitudes of the cats in contradiction to the high proportion (62%) of people who agree and strongly agree that it is bad for cats to kill birds or butterflies. However the feeling that the hunting nature of the cat justifies prevails your behaviour.This research contributes to the generation of basic knowledge that can be used for the establishment of an environmental education strategy integrating the approach of cultural determinants that lead to the inadequate patterns of cat tenure and counteract the imminent danger that these pose as predators of wildlife in urban and peri-urban environments.