Reducing feral camel impacts across remote Australia:

Australian Feral Camel Management Project

21st November 2013, Parliament House Theatre, Canberra

Session Two: Governance and Delivery Speakers: Billy Landy, Mark Jeffries and Peter See Byron Brooks, Ethan Hansen, Troy Hansen and Peter Twigg Mike Eathorne, Meramist Pty Ltd Andy Bubb, Ninti One John Virtue, Biosecurity SA Bidda Jones, RSPCA

The AFCMP as a model for integrating animal welfare standards into large feral herbivore management

Dr Bidda Jones, RSPCA Australia Member of the AFCMP Steering Committee

Overview

• Humane starting point • Steps to achieving humaneness • Factors affecting humaneness • Measuring compliance and outcomes • Humaneness matrix • Benefits of integrating animal welfare

Project vision

Biodiversity, agricultural (pastoral), cultural assets and social values of the rangelands are better protected by comprehensive, co-ordinated and humane management of feral camels. March 2010

What does humane mean?

• Humane pest control is the development and selection of feasible control programs and techniques that avoid or minimise pain, suffering and distress to target and non-target animals.

• A totally humane control method is one where the animal experiences no pain, suffering or distress.

• Efficacy is different from humaneness • Techniques may be more or less humane depending

on the context and the way they are applied

Steps to achieving humaneness

1. Establish agreed standards (SOPs): – Aerial-based shooting – Ground-based shooting – Mustering

Steps to achieving humaneness

2. Ensure compliance through contractual arrangements 3. Develop extension materials & training against SOPs

Key factors affecting humaneness

• Aerial shooting – Operator skill (shooter and pilot) – Target animal behaviour – Visibility/terrain

• Ground shooting – Operator skill – Visibility/terrain

• Removal for slaughter (multi-stage) – Operator skill at each stage – Infrastructure/equipment – Distances between stages

Measuring compliance and outcomes

4. Auditing against the SOPs – Assessing compliance with SOPs for aerial

shooting and mustering – Feedback from assessments – Transport and slaughter not audited

Measuring compliance and outcomes

4. Verification of animal welfare outcomes – Post-mortems – Estimates of time to death

Humaneness assessment model

• Model developed to assess relative humaneness of different control techniques

• Two parts: A – welfare impact prior to death B – mode of death

• Scores based on duration and severity of suffering

• Assumes best practice (compliance with SOPs)

• 2010 assessments refined in 2013

RSPCA Australia input/oversight

• Development of COP and SOPs • Humaneness assessment model • Input into assessment and verification

methodology • Sharing of outcomes • Transparency and trust:

o access to mustering operations o access to aerial shooting and verification

activities

Benefits of ensuring humaneness

Better animal welfare outcomes Influence the methodology of other control

programs Ethical (what ought to be done) Builds public confidence Sound basis for explaining project

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