RSPCA Victoria – Issues – Preventing Animal Cruelty

Issues

Preventing cruelty requires a whole-of-community approach with animal welfare at its heart. RSPCA Victoria has a proud history in raising awareness of welfare issues and advocating to improve animal welfare standards. If you’d like to learn more about the welfare issues faced in Victoria today and what the RSPCA’s policy is on those issues, please click on the links below:

Puppy and Kitten factories
Puppy and kitten factories are intensive, large-scale, commercial businesses that mass produce puppies and/or kittens. These puppies/kittens and their parents live in appalling, squalid conditions. >

Cat welfare
Sadly our feline friends are undervalued in Australia. Cats suffer from higher rates of abandonment and are often not reclaimed from shelters. And, with many cats not being desexed, we are unfortunately finding, more and more cats needing to be rehomed.
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Testing on animals
Animals are used in a range of industries in experiments and testing. Greater efforts should be made to develop alternative techniques to minimise the use of animals in this way.
Learn more about our testing on animals policies here

Farm animal welfare
Farm animal welfare issues include pigs in sow stalls, hens in battery facilities, chickens used in meat production, bobby calves, sheep mulesing and live animal exports.
Learn more about our policies on farm animal welfare here
Learn more about our Approved Farming Scheme here

Animals in sport and entertainment
Animals used in rodeos, circuses, zoos and racing may at times be put into highly stressful situations that place them at a higher risk of injury or even death. RSPCA's view is that animals should not be used in any kind of entertainment, exhibition or performance where injury, suffering or distress is likely to be caused. Welfare issues can arise as a result of the performance itself, but also through training, transport, housing and handling associated with such use.

Recreational Hunting
RSPCA's definition of 'recreational hunting' is the chasing of or searching for game or other wild animals with the intention of catching or killing them, usually for sport or food. We believe that recreational hunting, or the act of stalking or pursuing an animal and then killing it for sport, is hard to justify.
Download our information paper here or for policies on this issue here