Hunting with Dogs
SPCA advocates animals should only be hunted with methods that minimise the negative welfare impacts. SPCA opposes the hunting of animals with dogs because of the negative impacts to the welfare of both the hunted animal and the dogs.
Dogs used for hunting may experience negative welfare outcomes if they are injured while chasing an animal (e.g., abrasions, injured muscles and joints, or broken limbs), injured while interacting with an animal (e.g., tusk injuries from wild pigs), or exposed to infectious disease from the wild animal. Additionally, SPCA is concerned with aversive training methods used to train hunting dogs to avoid non-target species.
Animals hunted with dogs can experience negative psychological and physical harms when chased or bitten by dogs. SPCA is concerned about the negative impacts to the welfare of non-targeted animals caused by the dogs used in hunting.
SPCA opposes the practice of killing hunted pigs by ‘sticking’ because of the risk of injury to the pig or the likelihood that death does not rapidly follow. Sticking also presents a risk of injury or death to dogs used in pig hunting.
