Pest Animals
The RSPCA believes animal welfare is not selective.
In terms of the number of animals affected, vertebrate pest control is one of the biggest animal welfare problems we have in this country.
Every year hundreds of thousands of feral pigs, feral cats, wild dogs, rabbits, foxes and rodents are shot, poisoned, trapped or otherwise killed. Many of the methods used are far from humane.
These animals are no different from their domestic counterparts, such as pet dogs or cats, in terms of their capacity to suffer and experience pain and fear.
The RSPCA believes the control of pest animals must be justified and humane. That's why we worked with government and industry to develop Australia's first model to assess the humaneness of pest control methods.
This was a tremendous step forward as it means humaneness should now be a regular consideration in the development of any pest control strategy.
- More information on pest animal control
- Media Release: New model tackles urgent animal welfare problem
- Model for Assessing the Humaneness of Pest Control Methods
