Further information

For more information on horse welfare, consult the following articles on the RSPCA Knowledgebase:

RSPCA Australia purpose, vision, values, principles and objectives
RSPCA Australia animals charter
What is good animal welfare?
Are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander hunters exempt from animal cruelty laws?
What is animal sentience and why is it important?
At what stage of development do animals become sentient?
Position Paper GP1 - Animal Welfare Legislation
What are the welfare issues with animals used in research?
How is animal research regulated in Australia?
What is the Animal Research Openness Agreement and why is it important?
How many animals are used in research in Australia?
What are the 3Rs in animal research?
What is the RSPCA’s view of the use of animals in research?
Why are animals used in research?
How can I avoid animal testing in the products I purchase?
What happens to bobby calves?
Why are calves separated from their mother in the dairy industry?
How do young calves cope with transport?
Position Paper B1 - Welfare of bobby calves destined for slaughter
Do octopi and lobsters feel pain?
Are squid and octopi protected by animal welfare legislation?
Are crustaceans protected by animal welfare legislation?
What is the most humane way to kill crustaceans for human consumption?
What can be done to improve the welfare of fish and shellfish in restaurant aquaria?
Can enclosed yabby traps harm animals and are they legal to use?
Is intensive aquaculture similar to intensive land-based livestock production?
Do fish feel pain?
How can habitat loss affect animal welfare?
What is humane vertebrate pest control?
How can you measure the humaneness of a pest animal control method?
How can pest animal control programs be made more humane?
A national approach towards humane vertebrate pest control
Is there a need to kill kangaroos or wallabies?
What is the RSPCA’s view on killing sharks to reduce shark incidents?
How would a national identification registry help improve horse welfare?
What are the animal welfare issues with Thoroughbred horse racing?
What are the animal welfare issues associated with horse jumps racing?
What are the animal welfare issues with greyhound racing?
Why does the RSPCA oppose the export of racing greyhounds?
What do I need to consider before adopting an ex-racing greyhound?
Information Paper - National Horse Identification and Traceability
The most important participant. A framework for Thoroughbred Welfare
Epidemiology of horses leaving the racing and breeding industries
What is Brachycephalic Obstructive Airway Syndrome (BOAS)?
What do I need to know about Brachycephalic dogs?
What are the welfare issues associated with narrowed nostrils in dogs (stenotic nares)?
What is Brachycephalic Ocular Syndrome?
What are the welfare risks associated with difficulty giving birth in brachycephalic dogs?
How can owners of dogs with exaggerated physical features help their pets?
What can breeders do to avoid exaggerated physical features that compromise dog welfare?
Position Paper A5 - Responsible companion animal breeding
GP - General Policies
A - Companion Animals
B - Farm Animals
C - Animals in Sport, Entertainment, Performance, Recreation and Work
D - Animals in Research and Teaching
E - Wild Animals

Fraser D (2012) A “practical” ethic for animals. J Agric & Environ Ethics 25:721–746 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10806-011-9353-z
Fraser D (2008) Understanding animal welfare. Acta Vet Scand 50(S1) https://doi.org/10.1186/1751-0147-50-S1-S1
Dean T (2022) Can you be too moral? TEDxSydney https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gr7XWBmXWT0
Dean T (2014) Evolution and moral ecology. PhD thesis, UNSW https://doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/17194
Bennett B, Archer-Lean C (2023) Understanding camp dogs: the relationship between Aboriginal culture and western welfare. AlterNative: Int J Indig Peoples 19(2):293-302 https://doi.org/10.1177/11771801231167671
Animal Management in Rural and Remote Indigenous Communities. https://www.amrric.org/
Kotzmann J (2023) Sentience and intrinsic worth as a pluralist foundation for fundamental animal rights. Oxford J Legal Stud 43(2):405–428  https://doi.org/10.1093/ojls/gqad003
Kotzmann J (2020) Recognising the sentience of animals in law: A justification and framework for Australian states and territories. Syd Law Rev 42(3):281-310. https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.537561239425522
Animalethics, Faculty of Health and Medical Science, University of Copenhagen https://animalethics.ku.dk
Lund TB, Kondrup SV, Sandøe P (2019) A multidimensional measure of animal ethics orientation – Developed and applied to a representative sample of the Danish public. PLoS ONE 14(2):e0211656 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0211656
Lund TB, Denver S, Nordström J, Christensen T, Sandøe P (2021) Moral convictions and meat consumption—A comparative study of the animal ethics orientations of consumers of pork in Denmark, Germany, and Sweden. Animals 11(2):329 https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11020329
Hansen LA, Kosberg KA (2019) Ethics, efficacy, and decision-making in animal research. Chapter 11 in Hermann K and Jayne K (eds) Animal experimentation: Working towards a paradigm change. Brill, Leiden and Boston https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/38145/9789004391192_webready_content_text.%20pdf?sequence=1#page=314
Hansen LA (2013) Institution animal care and use committees need greater ethical diversity. J Med Ethics 39:188-190 https://doi.org/10.1136/medethics-2012-100982
Bolton SE, von Keyserlingk MAG (2021) The dispensable surplus dairy calf: Is this issue a “Wicked problem” and where do we go from here. Front Vet Sci 8:660934 https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2021.660934
Bolton SE, Vandresen B, von Keyserlingk MAG (2024) The advice? Think bigger: Community perspectives on dairy farming, including surplus calves an Australian focus group study. J Dairy Sci 108(2):1855-1868 https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2024-25424
Wahltinez SJ, Stacy NI, Hadfield CA, Harms CA, Lewbart GA, Newton AL, Nunamaker EA (2022) Perspective: Opportunities for advancing aquatic invertebrate welfare. Front Vet Sci 9:973376 https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2022.973376
Coghlan S, Cardilini A (2024) The use and abuse of moral theories in conservation debate about killing animals. Conservat Biol 38:e14280 https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.14280
Kopnina H, Coghlan S (2022) Invasion biology and its discontents: Human supremacy, language, and animal treatment. Visions Sustainab 18 https://doi.org/10.13135/2384-8677/6512
McManus P (2022) Animal-based entertainment industries, animal death and Social Licence to Operate: an analysis of ‘The final race’ and the 2019 Melbourne cup. Social & Cultur Geograph 24(7):1242-1261 https://doi.org/10.1080/14649365.2022.2053194
Stallones L, McManus P, McGreevy P (2023) Sustainability and the thoroughbred breeding and racing industries: An enhanced one welfare perspective. Animals 13(3):490 https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13030490
Packer RMA, Wade A, Neufuss J (2024) Nothing could put me off: Assessing the prevalence and risk factors for perceptual barriers to improving the welfare of brachycephalic dogs. Pets 1(3):458-484 https://doi.org/10.3390/pets1030032
Packer RMA, O’Neill DG, Fletcher F, Farnworth MJ (2019) Great expectations, inconvenient truths, and the paradoxes of the dog-owner relationship for owners of brachycephalic dogs. PLoS ONE 14(7):e0219918 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0219918

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