Companion Animals
Responsible Ownership
The society discourages the keeping of companion animals by those who do not have the facilities, time, financial means or level of interest necessary to ensure a satisfactory standard of care, and for a long term commitment to their animals.
Acquiring an Animal
The society advocates that all animals should be acquired by the prospective owner from the place where they were born or from an SPCA animal center, or other reputable organization.
The Society is opposed to the display and sale of animals in pet shops
Population Control
The Society advocates the sterilization of domestic cats and dogs as important party of responsible ownership.The Society is opposed to the irresponsible breeding of puppies or kittens, and other animals in both private and commercial undertakings.The Society believes that breeding establishments should be properly inspected and regulated.
Euthanasia
The Society is opposed to the euthanasia of fit and healthy animals. The society nevertheless accepts, with great reluctance, that in certain circumstances it may be necessary, particularly in the case of unwanted or stray animals.Where euthanasia is carried out it must be by trained operators using approved methods
Surgical Mutilations
The following procedures do not benefit the animals in any way and in many cases can be detrimental to their health and welfare.
- Tail docking of dogs
- De-barking of dogs
- Ear cropping of dogs and donkeys
- De-clawing of cats
- Removal of fraenum beneath the tongue of dogs
Training
The Society is opposed to any training aid which causes pain or any technique involving negative reinforcement, from which the animal cannot retreat.
Entertainment
The Society is opposed to dog racing
The Society is opposed to dog fighting
Transporting
The Society is opposed to the transportation of dogs in open pick-ups, unless safely restrained in a suitable cage, travel box or harness.
Feral Cats
Feral cats are ordinary domestic cats or their offspring which are no longer living with people. The Society recommends that, only where the welfare of feral cats is ensured and their presence accepted by the owners of the site, the animals should be humanely captured. Euthanasia should be carried out on those cats which are too sick or which are injured to the extent that returning to the site would be inadvisable and the remaining cats should be sterilized. All cats selected from rehoming or for sterilization should receive the necessary vaccinations and treatments for internal and external parasites.
Equine
Tethering of Equines
The Society is opposed to tethering as a method of managing equines. Where tethering is absolutely necessary, equines should be tethered with a rope to a head halter. Tethering with slip knots or to the legs is unacceptable. A constant supply of fresh water should be provided and every effort must be made to provide protection against extremes of weather and to provide adequate supervision.
Racing
The Society is opposed to training, practices, racecourse condition or facilities that result in injury. The Society is opposed to the use of drugs, which are administered with a view to altering the performance or growth rate of an animal including the masking of pain. The Society is opposed to the use of whips which cause pain or suffering.
Polo
The Society is opposed to the use of any bit which inflicts unnecessary discomfort, pain or suffering. The Society is opposed to the use of spurs or any other such devices which inflict pain or suffering.
Food Animals
General Considerations
The Society is opposed to all forms of farming that cause distress or suffering, or deprive animals of the opportunity to express their natural behavior, and believes that farming practices should provide, as nearly as possible, natural lifestyles for the animals concerned. The Society is concerned that the commercial mass production of food animals in the livestock industry causes suffering to a greater or lesser extent whether through the close confinement of some systems or through shortcomings in transport and slaughtering techniques. Through the Animal Welfare Forum, the society will continue to lobby for the adoption of the Five Freedoms. The Society encourages the principle of planned heard or flock health management and encourages farmers and veterinary surgeons to work together to prevent, monitor and respond to existing and emerging farm animal welfare concern
Poultry
The Society is opposed to the battery cage system, or variations of that system, for egg production. The Society is in favor of laying systems in which the welfare of the bird is fully protected and in which a nest, scratching or dust bathing areas and a perch are provided and where the stocking density and colony size is appropriate for the needs of the hens. The Society is committed to phasing out the existing cage system for egg production, which does not provide for the health and welfare of the hen. The Society is opposed to forced molting to increase egg production.
Calves
The Society is opposed to the use of individual pens which restrict free movement. The Society is opposed to the tethering of calves. The Society recommends the use of loose housed or outdoor systems with a stock density, which allows free movement and the expression of normal behavior.
Pigs
The Society is opposed to systems of pig husbandry where no form of bedding is provided. Straw or similar material should be used to reduce injury and eliminate some behavioral abnormalities. The Society is opposed to the use of stalls for dry or pregnant sows in which they are kept permanently and are unable to turn around. The Society is opposed to the weaning of piglets at less than three weeks of age, which is contrary to the natural behavioral patterns of sows and pigs
Production Systems
The Society believes that new buildings should be constructed, or existing building modified, in a way that allows a high standard of husbandry and welfare requirements to be met. Including precautions against fire. The Society is opposed to breeding programs which cause or are likely to cause suffering or damage to mothers and offspring. The Society is opposed to the selection of animals for accelerated growth rates where this may inhibit normal activity and cause metabolic or skeletal defects, chronic lameness and pain. The Society is opposed to the mutilation of farm animals. The Society is opposed to the castration of piglets or lams destined to be killed before the age of sexual maturity, the amputation of pigs’ tails except for veterinary reason and beak-tipping of birds. The Society is opposed to the docking of lamb’s tails unless there is an unavoidable risk of fly strike, and clos, frequent inspection of each animal possible. The Society is opposed to the forced feeding of geese and ducks to produce ‘foie gras’.
The Society is opposed to the intensive rearing of rabbits and other small mammals on wire floored cages and in barren environments. The Society is opposed to the use on farm animal production of biotechnological techniques which cause pain or suffering.
Branding
The Society is opposed to any method of branding which causes suffering. Freeze branding is preferable to hot iron branding.
Casualty Animals
The Society advocates that farm animals which that to be destroyed due to physical injury or disease should be slaughtered on site and without delay. Casualty animals should be destroyed out of sight of other animals, expect where this will cause delay or suffering.
Transportation
The Society believes that no journey for food animals destined for slaughter should last longer than eight hours, the journey time being taken from the time the first animal is loaded to the time the last animal is unloaded. The Society is opposed to the trade in live animal between Zimbabwe and other African countries, or worldwide, either for immediate slaughter or for further fattening. The Society advocates the adoption of a carcass-only trade.
Slaughter
The Society is opposed to the slaughter of any food animal without rendering that animal insensible to pain and distress until death supervenes. The Society believes that all slaughterhouses should have an animal welfare officer responsible for consistent and appropriate training, supervision and implementation of welfare provisions.
Shellfish
The Society is opposed to the use of cruel methods for catching, selling and killing lobsters, crabs and other shellfish. CRABS – The only manner in which a crab many be killed humanely is to turn it on its back and pierce the 2 nerve centers of the crab with an awl in order to render the crab unconscious before boiling. LOBSTER – By placing the lobster in a plastic bag in a deep freezer at a temperature of -10’C to 15’C for 2 hours it becomes unconscious and dies.
Food Labelling
The Society advocates that the consumer should have the right to know how all animal product (including nonfood products) are produced and that they should be labelled with the method of production.
Wildlife
Snares and Traps
The Society is opposed to the manufacture, sale and use of all snares and any trap which causes suffering. The society recognizes the necessity of capturing animals on a limited scale for a variety of reason and, in such cases live traps are acceptable provided that they are visited frequently, the frequency varying from one-12 hours depending upon the species and trap concerned. Those animal taken in a live trap for destruction must be immediately destroyed according to Society euthanasia guidelines. There is no body grip trap, which does not cause unacceptable suffering. The Society is opposed to the domestication of any wild animal.
Hunting
The Society believes the ‘sport’ does not justify the causing of suffering to birds and other animals, and therefore the Society is opposed to the shooting of any animal for sport. The Society accepts that a ‘clean kill’ is the intention of those shooting for sport, but it is a fact that this does not always happens, and that therefore suffering does occur. The Society is opposed to the use of air weapons or bows in the shooting of animals. The Society is opposed to the use of handguns in the shooting of animals. The Society is opposed to the use of any animal to hunt, track or kill another animal. The Society is opposed to the pinioning, brailing and beak trimming of, and the use of spectacles or blinkers on game birds kept in rearing pens. The Society is opposed to the killing of predatory animals solely because they may be considered a threat to other animals. The Society is opposed to the use of lead gun shot in circumstances where the spent pellets are likely to be ingested by, and hence poison, waterfowl. The Society is opposed to the use of live bait in order to entice predatory animals and which is a contravention of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.
Trade in Wild Animals
The Society is opposed to the trade in wild animals and to the trading of products from wild animals. Opposition is based on evidence that the trade in wild animals causes distress, suffering and death to large numbers of animals and is, in most instances, against all principles of conservation.
The risk of introducing diseases which are dangerous to human beings or other animals is increase considerably by importation. Where transport is deemed essential to ensure the continued welfare and safety of the wild animal concerned or the safety of humans or other animals, this must be conducted by qualified persons under the supervision of a veterinarian.
Captive Animals including those in Zoos
The Society is opposed to any degree of confinement likely to cause distress or suffering. Capture, transportation and acclimatization of animals causes distress and suffering which are unacceptable. As there are already large numbers of animals in captivity and more being bread, further importation should be prohibited in most instances.
The Society is opposed to the feeding of live vertebrate pray to captive animals. The feeding of live prey may be viewed as illegal under the provision of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Acts.
Poisons
The Society is opposed to the use of poisons which cause suffering to animals and is concerned about the widespread agriculture and commercial use of chemical substances which are potentially lethal to wild, farm and domestic animals.
Animal Experimentation
Pain and Suffering in Experiments.
The Society is opposed to al experiments or procedures which cause pain, suffering or distress. The Society is opposed to animal experiments which involve unnecessary repetitions, scientifically trivial ends, or techniques to which satisfactory alternatives not using living animals have already been developed.
Legislative and Ethical Concerns
The Society believes that it is of vital importance that all new experimentation and testing protocols should be subject to extensive ethical review before licenses are applied for.
The Society supports provisions of the Scientific Experiments on Animals Act that a veterinary surgeon be appointed to monitor the health and welfare status of these animals and the introduction of regulations providing for the proper care of animals in the charge of licenses while awaiting, undergoing or recovering got scientific experiments.
The Society is opposed to the use of wild caught animals of any species. The Society is opposed to the use of non-human primates. Primates have a complex behavioral and social needs, which can never be satisfied adequately in laboratory conditions.
General Considerations
The Society is opposed, in principle, to the taking or killing of wild animals, or the infliction of any suffering upon them. Before exceptions to the principle of opposition to taking or killing wild animals can be considered there must be: 1) Strong scientific evidence that there is a legitimate case for the taking and killing of wild animals in particular instances. 2) A case for taking or killing particular animals for necessary food purposes. 3) There the question is one of control, evidence that control if necessary and that alternative methods of control are not appropriate.
Animals in Education
General
The Society is opposed to the use of animals for education where distress of suffering is likely to be caused. The Society is opposed to the keeping of animals in educational facilities unless proper provision is made to protect and maintain their physical and mental well-being.
The Society opposes breading programs in schools. This concern includes the use of incubators and artificial environments for animals.
Educational Visits
The Society believes that all educational visits should be part of a structured animal welfare curriculum. Educational visits should be structured to highlight and define animal welfare issues. Preliminary visits by group leaders are essential to assess standards of animal welfare at the site.
Dissection
The Society is opposed to the practice of dissection of animals in schools, including invertebrates. The Society is opposed to any pupil being compelled to either perform or watch animal dissection. The Society advocates the creation and use of educational resources, which provide alternatives to dissection.
Behavioral Experiments
The Society is opposed to behavioral experiments which are detrimental to the welfare of animals, including invertebrates. The Society believes that it is more educationally beneficial to observe animals on their natural environment, performing natural behavior.
Falconry
The Society is opposed to the practice of falconry under conditions where the birds used are likely to suffer pain or distress. The Society is opposed to the removal of wild birds to be used in falconry.
Fur Trade
The Society is opposed to the farming and trapping of fur-bearing animals and the trade of fur products.
Genetic Engineering
The Society is opposed, in principle, to manipulating the genetic constitution of animals.
Pet Corners
The Society is opposed to pet corners where welfare problems are caused by uncontrolled handling and feeding, a lack of adequate supervision and excessive disturbance.
Performing Animals
The Society is opposed to the use of animals for any form of entertainment where distress or suffering is likely to be caused. The Society is opposed to exhibitions or presentation of all animals, of whatever species, in circuses and travelling menageries.
Transportation of Unaccompanied Animals
The Society believes that the transport of unaccompanied animals should be avoided wherever possible.
General
The Society is opposed to the giving of any animal as a gift. The Society is opposed to the giving of live animals as prizes. The Society is opposed to animals been left unattended in vehicles, particularly in high temperatures.
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