Animal trafficking: what they say high school students?

Abstract

Animal trafficking is the illegal trade of all species native to a region that is part of the wildlife. This fact often goes unnoticed by society. In this sense, the present study aimed to point out the concepts of high school students about wildlife trafficking, considering that the school is a space for the dissemination of knowledge, must act discussing issues like this in order to bring the student body to a critical and reflective about the vision of the subject. The research is characterized as qualitative, and upon your goal, as a case study. The object of data collection was semi-structured questionnaire administered to students in third year high school students in a school of public schools in the city of Montes Claros de Goiás - GO (16 ° 00'26 "S 51 ° 23 '52 "O). Participated in the survey a total of 58 students, of which 91.37% said they had heard about the pet trade, and only a minority of 8.63% said they had no knowledge on the subject. The first indicated that the topic was presented to them via newspapers, magazines, television and the Internet, backs up this point that the school was not mentioned Regarding their perception about what comes to animal trafficking, the student body at most (97%) suggests that it is a "cruel manner of mistreatment of wild animals", mentioning the removal of these beings from their natural habitat. Also cited the maintenance of the animal in captivity where they are deprived of liberty. Some students reported that many people have seen creating wildlife. Yet others (3%) claimed that they have had or still have wild animals as pets. The last factor can be explained by the large contact these students with the rural environment as the city's economy is based primarily on agro-pastoral activities, with many students living in the countryside and having direct contact with wildlife. Given the results achieved by the questionnaire, it was concluded that the studied group understands what comes to animal trafficking. However, it was noticeable that even knowing the illegality and also the injuries caused by traffic, there is still a portion of students who keep wild animals in captivity. At this point, we emphasize the need for the school turns his sights on the topic in order to raise awareness about the importance of avoiding behaviors that promote animal trafficking.