Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

In 2018 a new animal protection law was presented by the Swedish government, and in that law, it is written that animals shall not be exposed to unnecessary suffering during training or trial. The government has assigned authorities three different tasks to investigate animal welfare of badgers (Meles meles) during hunting trial, welfare of wild boar (Sus scrofa) in enclosed fields and transfer of wild animals in enclosures to the wild. When hunters test their hunting dogs on wild animals in enclosures, unnecessary suffering can happen. Training and hunting trials are important because we test the dogs to find out if they are suitable to be used in hunting later. The aim of this study was to investigate animal welfare during hunting trials and training and occurrence of injury. In this study the public was asked what they thought about hunting trials and training on badger and wild boar in enclosed fields. In total, 84 people participate in the survey, 44% were dog owners and 7% of them used their dog in hunting. Among participants, 50 % were against the use of wild animals in hunting trials and training, and 56% answered that the utility should not be more important than suffering of animals. In this survey people answered that it is more acceptable to use wild boar than badgers in hunting trials and training of dogs. When we asked the owner of the enclosures and hunting organisations about the occurrence of injury in both wild animal and dog, the answer was that it was almost zero injuries. They also answered that hunting trial and training has improved a lot through the last years, so injuries could have been more common before. Previous studies of hunting wild boar conclude that stress do not affect them in a negative way, and that, after being hunted, they can go back to normal state. But badgers can be affected over several days after participated in a hunting trial, that concludes that the stress badgers are exposed to has negative effects and interrupts their normal behaviour.