BVZS calls for ethics and welfare in wildlife control

The Wild Animal Welfare Committee (WAWC) welcomes the new Position Statement from the British Veterinary Zoological Society (BVZS) on the control of free-ranging wildlife.  The BVZS is a specialist division of the British Veterinary Association whose remit covers exotic pets, companion avian species, zoo animals and wildlife, aiming to improve the health and welfare of non-domesticated animals.

The newly-published Position Statement makes clear that “control” need not mean “lethal control” but demonstrates that all interventions affecting free-ranging wild animals – even those intended to be for their benefit – are likely to have consequences for their welfare.

The document considers wildlife control from an ethical standpoint and supports the International Consensus Principles for Ethical Wildlife Control, which the WAWC also promotes.  Animal welfare must also be prioritised, according to the BVZS, and this must take into consideration the direct and indirect welfare impacts upon the targeted individual(s), other individuals of the same species, dependent neonates and non-target species.

These welfare impacts are considered in some detail and applied to a variety of currently used control methods, including lethal control by trapping, shooting and poisoning.  Here, the BVZS states:

 “Lethal methods of control should produce rapid (ideally instantaneous) and irreversible loss of consciousness leading to death. Any period of time following traumatic injury prior to death, or period of entrapment prior to dispatch, is likely to have negative impacts upon the welfare of the animal. Poisoned bait, gasses and infectious disease rarely result in instantaneous death and can all significantly compromise welfare.”

 The BVZS also points out that non-lethal methods have many and varied implications for animal welfare and calls for the Five Domains framework for assessing animal welfare to be consistently applied when considering different techniques.  Mitigation methods are also proposed, such as improved practitioner training and the harnessing of technology – for example, to alert live trap operators when an animal has been captured.

WAWC Chairman Dr Pete Goddard commented:

“This statement is a welcome contribution to the debate on wild animal control from a respected and authoritative organisation.  We are seeing much more emphasis nowadays on the welfare of the individual animal, turning away from outdated views on ‘pest control’ and the interpretation of wildlife management as a uniformly lethal activity. It’s also essential, as the statement points out, to bear in mind that even benign activities, such as translocation, will have animal welfare impacts.

“The WAWC is looking forward to more debate on these important topics in our conference on 19 April, which is attracting an audience from round the world.”