Welfare - non-commercial shooting

The Non-Commercial Code permits shooters to use shotguns instead of centrefire rifles.¹ However, the use of shotguns has been heavily criticised on the basis that there are too many variables associated with shotguns to ever achieve a high level of consistency in achieving brain shot outcomes.²

The Code recognises that a shotgun will only 'cause a sudden and painless death if the pattern is centred on the head, neck or chest of the target animal' at 'ranges up to the maximum specified in Schedule 1.' Moreover, there are no competency requirements for non-commercial shooters.³

The RSPCA Report of 2002 found that there were high levels of cruelty in the non-commercial killing of kangaroos and has called for the Commercial Code to apply universally.⁴ The high levels of cruelty are likely to be due to the fact that the competency of non-commercial shooters is not tested and the non-commercial killing is even less regulated than commercial killing as the carcasses are not brought to a processor.⁵

Both the RSPCA and the NSW Young Lawyers Animal Law Committee have called for the Commercial Code to apply to non-commercial shooters in order to improve animal welfare outcomes.⁶

References

1. Department of the Environment Water Heritage and the Arts, National Code of Practice for the Humane Shooting of Kangaroos and Wallabies for Non-Commercial Purposes (2008) <http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/trade-use/wild-harvest/kangaroo/pubs/code-of-conduct-non-commercial.pdf> accessed 8 October 2010., 2.2.

2. RSPCA Australia, The Kangaroo Code Compliance Report: A survey of the extent of compliance with the requirements of the Code of Practice for the Humane Shooting of Kangaroos, prepared for Environment Australia, July 2002 <http://www.deh.gov.au/biodiversity/trade-use/publications/kangaroo-report/summary.html#71> accessed 8 October 2010, 6.2.1.

3. See Department of the Environment Water Heritage and the Arts, National Code of Practice for the Humane Shooting of Kangaroos and Wallabies for Non-Commercial Purposes (2008) <http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/trade-use/wild-harvest/kangaroo/pubs/code-of-conduct-non-commercial.pdf> accessed 8 October 2010.

4. See generally RSPCA Australia, The Kangaroo Code Compliance Report: A survey of the extent of compliance with the requirements of the Code of Practice for the Humane Shooting of Kangaroos, prepared for Environment Australia, July 2002 <http://www.deh.gov.au/biodiversity/trade-use/publications/kangaroo-report/summary.html#71> accessed 8 October 2010 at 5.1.3 and 5.2.

5. See Department of the Environment Water Heritage and the Arts, National Code of Practice for the Humane Shooting of Kangaroos and Wallabies for Non-Commercial Purposes (2008) <http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/trade-use/wild-harvest/kangaroo/pubs/code-of-conduct-non-commercial.pdf> accessed 8 October 2010.

6. RSPCA Australia, Is there a difference between non-commercial and commercial kangaroo shooting? (Last updated 21 October 2009) <http://kb.rspca.org.au/entry/78/> accessed 1 November 2010; NSW Young Lawyers Animal Law Committee, 'A submission to the NRMMC Working Group on the draft National Code of Practice for the Humane Shooting of Kangaroos and Wallabies' (prepared by Amber Hall, John Mancy, Eve McWilliams and Angela Radich), March 2008.