It's not fur: newspaper article reporting of abandonment and relinquishment of pets exhibit taxonomic biases in framing and language use

Animal companionship holds cultural and economic significance, but there are downsides too, including welfare compromises, the risk of pathogen spillover and the relinquishment or abandonment of animals (cessation of ownership). The topic of cessation of ownership attracts a great deal of media coverage, and we hypothesize that biases exist in the amount and nature of coverage that different animal species receive, informing public views on its relative scale and importance across taxa. We searched English-language newspaper articles about cessation of ownership of pets to test whether major pet groups (cats and dogs; traditionally kept small mammals; reptiles and amphibians) differ in the number of newspaper article reports, their framing and their language use. Significant variation was observed, with a greater number of articles focused on cats and dogs. Reptile and amphibian articles were framed in a more abstract way, with more negative language. Newspaper articles write about reptiles and amphibians in a way that is consistent with 'othering', using words that exclude or dismiss another group. This trend may have important implications for public perceptions of the taxon, and any perceived lack of worth of a given taxon may feed into the support for interventions and policies aiming to optimize their welfare.