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Resources

This page offers a wealth of information about animals and animal issues – such as battery hens, vivisection and canned lion hunting.

If you are working on a school project about animals, think beyond just the facts. Think about the conditions in which many of them live. Think how these conditions could be made better. Think with compassion … which is deep kindness and respect.

Exotic pets
The SPCA is opposed to exotic birds and animals – snakes, lizards, turtles and other non-domesticated animals – being kept or bred as pets. Click here for more.

Poultry industry
Killing newborn male chicks is practised in the poultry industry. Males cannot lay eggs and are therefore considered to be of no economic value. There are accepted practices within the industry for the humane disposal of day-old chicks, but not all farmers follow the rules – as in the case highlighted on Carte Blanche last year.

Commercial or 'battery' eggs are the cheapest to buy, and make up the bulk of eggs consumed in the country. The chickens are kept in cages with the space per chicken being equivalent to that of an A4 sized piece of paper. The chickens are unable to stretch their wings, are forced to “sit” on wire mesh, never see the sun and cannot scratch in the dust which is their natural behaviour.

The SPCA movement opposes this type of “factory-farming” or egg production.

Free-range eggs are laid by chickens who are exposed to sunlight and grass pastures.
They have room to scratch, flap and bath in the dust - but their diet is not necessarily vegetarian – it could include insects or fishmeal. Barn eggs are produced by chickens that live inside but are not kept in cages.

For more information, please visit the National Council of SPCAs website.

The use of animals in research
You might be surprised how many people consider themselves to be animal lovers, yet they knowingly or unknowingly actually encourage or even promote cruelty. We are referring to the use of products that are tested on animals. Justification for animal testing and the results obtained are highly questionable both from the scientific and ethical perspective.

Relatively simple steps can be taken which make a huge difference. The more people buy animal-friendly products – those that are either not tested on animals or which do not contain animal substances – the more demand there will be for them and the less demand for products that are less animal-friendly.

The National Council of SPCAs represents the SPCA movement within South Africa and looks forward to the time when no animals will be used for invasive, painful and unnecessary research. As much as we would all like to believe that no research should ever be done on animals, this state of affairs is unlikely to become a reality for the foreseeable future.

It is recognised that there will be a gradual transition period and that the NSPCA’s role will be to contribute as much as it can to alleviate the suffering of laboratory animals today – and during this transition period. For more information, visit the National Council of SPCAs website.

Canned hunting
In South Africa, hunting of wild animals is deeply entrenched and plays a useful role in conservation – ensuring that populations of various species are kept at sustainable levels within the environment.

However, the shortcomings regarding ethical and humane practices within the industry are compounded by the lack of co-ordinated enforcement. Through the consultative process set up by the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, the SPCA’s Wildlife Unit proposed that the hunting industry be regulated and controlled on a national level through appropriate Government legislation.

The practice of canned hunting, irrespective of species hunted, is regarded as unethical and our Wildlife Unit requested Government to ban canned hunting in all its forms, as well as the breeding of any large predators for any other reason than bona fide conservation projects. It was further proposed that any form of hunting that does not involve a free-living and self sustaining animal with a fair chase and chance of escape should be considered canned.

In the context of professional and recreational hunting the humane treatment of animals cannot be ensured without including the breeding, transportation and holding standards of wildlife in the game industry.

For more information, visit the National Council of SPCAs website.