Proposed changes to the Animal Welfare Regulations 2020

Livestock SA welcomes the opportunity to comment of the proposed amendments to the Animal Welfare Regulations 2012. Livestock SA supports the amendment to exclude livestock from the prohibition on the use of electronic confinement devices. Virtual fencing technology relies on the use of electronic tags and collars and has environmental and animal welfare benefits. Livestock SA supports the amendment to discontinue the use of a lethal toxin in wild dog traps if the traps are checked at least every 24 hours and any wild dog or dingo is humanely destroyed. This ensures producers minimise the suffering of wild dog as well as reducing the risk of damage to livestock and native animals. Livestock SA also supports the removal of the requirement for a rubber-jawed leg-hold trap to be only set inside the Dog fence and 100 metres outside the dog fence. Producers outside the fence must be given access to the same wild dog control measures to those inside the fence.