The guardianship movement was started because there is a need to educate the public about the value and importance of animals in society. Guardianship legislation is one method being pursued to increase animal welfare. The idea is that educating the general public away from the majority held view that animals are personal property, akin to cars, iPods, and other consumer goods and towards the view that animals are sentient beings with the ability to suffer will improve overall animal welfare. Data were collected from university students and major stakeholders and the results suggest that although both groups are favourable towards the term pet guardian neither group is comfortable with attributing any improvement to animal welfare from a terminology change. Furthermore, the study concludes that guardianship legislation will not improve animal welfare in a significant way in British Columbia.
