Animal welfare

People utilise animals in a variety of ways. We keep animals as pets and companions and train them to display specific behaviours, such as those that assist a hunter.

At times, we harvest both domestic and wild animals for food and other animal products.

The question with hunting is not ‘if we should hunt’, but rather, what are the welfare principles we need to apply to the way we hunt?

Animals must always be hunted ethically and humanely, without inflicting unreasonable or unnecessary pain and suffering on them.

Animals, especially dogs, used for hunting also have welfare concerns their owners must be aware of. These concerns are discussed in more depth in R-Licence Category 3 - Hunting with dogs, in Section 2 of this course.

The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1979 specifically deals with the way all animals must be treated. It is every hunter’s duty to know and abide by the conditions of this Act.