I.S.P.C.A. Policy Document

Aim

The aim of the I.S.P.C.A. is to prevent cruelty to animals, to promote animal welfare and to relieve animal suffering in Ireland. The Society supports the aims of similarly minded animal welfare bodies throughout the world

Ethical basis for ISPCA policies.

We believe that man has a responsibility to care for the earth and all creatures on it, and that each creature has an intrinsic value, entirely independent of its value to man, and should be respected and protected.

We believe that animals have the right to live their lives free from avoidable suffering at the hands of man and that man has a duty to provide for their welfare.

We believe that all animals kept by, or under the control of, humans must be kept in circumstances appropriate to their species and where the physiological and behavioural needs of a species cannot be met, the species must not be kept by man.

We believe that the different purposes for which animals are used must be regularly re-evaluated

Priority areas in Animal Welfare

• Farm and Food Animals.
• Wild Animals.
• Companion Animals.
• Animals in Sport and Entertainment
• Laboratory Animals.
• Genetic Engineering.
• The Transport of Animals.
• The Use of Animals in Education.
• Marine mammals.
• Pet-shops.
• Open Farms.
• Working Animals.

 ISPCA Policy on Wild Animals

(a) The I.S.P.C.A. is, in principle, opposed to the taking or killing of wild animals, or the infliction of any suffering on them. This includes the hunting, taking and killing of wild animals for the purposes of sport, or for the taking of skins, furs, plumage, ivory and horn.

(b) In circumstances where it is deemed necessary to control wild or stray populations, or animals considered to be pests, then this should be done without inflicting avoidable suffering. Effective methods (e.g. fertility control or other non-lethal methods) should be used to avoid the need continually to remove or kill animals.

(c) The Society is opposed to the use, confinement, exhibition or performances of wild animals, including marine mammals, (either taken directly from the wild or bred in captivity) for commercial gain and/or human entertainment.

(d) The Society believes that animals should not be kept in zoological collections unless they form part of a valid programme of conservation, the objection of which is their eventual rehabilitation and release into the wild and the animals can be kept in a semi-natural environment which fully meets their physiological, behavioural, environmental and social needs.

(e) The Society is opposed to all snares and traps which cause suffering.

(f) The Society is opposed to the use of poisons which cause suffering.

(g) The Society is opposed to the import of wild animals and to the import of products derived from wild animals.

(h) The Society is opposed to inhumane methods used for killing lobsters, crabs and crayfish for food.

(i) The Society advocates the management of colonies of feral goats to ensure that numbers are kept to a sustainable level.

(j) The Society opposes the taking or keeping of wild animals as pets.

(k) The Society the introduction and advocates the humane control of non-native species, whether domesticated or wild, where the release of members of such species into the environment, whether by accident or design, may damage indigenous species.

(l) Mindful of the interdependence of all animal life, both human and non-human, and the environment, the Society supports the principle of nature conservation.

Note to (h): inhumane methods include the technique of plunging the living animal into boiling water.