Appendix 5

Criteria for Humane Treatment of Kaimanawa Wild Horses

Objective

A key objective of the plan is to ensure that the treatment of the Kaimanawa horses is humane. Manipulations of the horses, including those causing the death of the animal, must be able to achieve the objectives of the Kaimanawa Wild Horse Plan without the horses experiencing undue physical and behavioural trauma.

There is no single technique that is without disadvantages. Therefore, a range of methods must be available so that the most appropriate method can be used for each situation. Issues such as public perception, practicality and cost, while secondary to humaneness, must be considered. The following principles have been developed to allow objective comparisons of the techniques.

Principles

1. Consideration for the animal is the paramount test for humaneness, i.e., the outcome for the animal is more important than the human perception of the action.
2. Each manipulation will be under the control of one person who may delegate individual responsibilities to those involved.
3. Where the animal is to be killed, the method should reliably bring about the death of the animal in as short a time as possible with minimal trauma to it or other horses.
4. Where animals are not to be killed, the risk of injury to the animal or disruption of any "normal" social behavioural patterns of individuals and bands should be minimised.
5. Where the animals are removed for sale or ex-situ management, they should be treated according to the principles.
6. Whatever method is used should be timed to minimise the risk of causing abortion or orphaning unweaned foals.
7. Protocols shall be developed for each method detailing all aspects of the procedure to be used including checks to ensure that death has occurred where planned. Protocols may be revised at any time to incorporate amendments arising from research and/or experience.
8. Any protocol must comply with animal welfare legislation.
9. Principles may be amended by the Minister of Conservation in light of experience and new information .

Application of Principles to Methods for Limiting or Reducing Horse Numbers

Method 1. Ground shooting.

Description: A group of experienced shooters approaches a band of horses on foot with the intention of culling all animals in the band.

• The intended outcome is an "instantaneous" death. However, there is a risk that a "clean kill" may not occur and effecting a rapid follow-up may be difficult due to the shooters' lack of mobility.
• Unless all horses in the band are able to be targeted it is possible that the band structure will be disrupted. The ability to effectively target all animals in the band at the same time decreases as the band.

Recommendation:

Ground shooting should only be used on small bands when all animals in the band can be targeted and a rapid follow-up can be conducted if necessary. Safety considerations limit the areas where this technique can be used due to the risk from stray bullets.

Method 2. Aerial shooting.

Description: Helicopter(s) carrying experienced shooters approaches a band of horses with the intention of culling all animals in the band.

• The intended outcome is an "instantaneous" death. There is a slight risk that a "clean kill" may not occur but effecting a rapid follow-up is easy due to the high mobility of the shooters.
• As aerial shooting allows all horses in the band to be targeted, there is little possibility that the other horses will suffer trauma.

Recommendation:

Aerial shooting is preferable over ground shooting due to the shooters ability to target all members of the band and conduct rapid follow-up if necessary. There is little risk of stray bullets using this method due to the angle of shooting.

Method 3. Mustering for Transport to Slaughter

Description: Bands of horses are mustered to holding yards from where they are transported to an abattoir for slaughter.

• The intended outcome is a humane death for all nominated animals.
• There is a risk of injury to the horses. However, mustering operations conducted since 1993 have resulted in injury to only one animal, indicating that this risk is very low.
• Mustering, holding and transporting the horses will result in some short-term behavioural trauma. This disruption is minimised if entire bands are mustered and if the period in which they are held before slaughter is minimised.

Recommendation:

If this method is used, the protocol must ensure that entire bands are mustered and the risk of injury to the animals is minimised. Also, the number of horses transported to an abattoir must not exceed that which can be slaughtered in one day.

Method 4. Mustering for transport to sale

Description: Bands of horses are mustered to holding yards from where "marketable" horses are transported to sale and non-marketable horses are transported to an abattoir.

• The intended outcome is for some horses to be relocated while the majority will be humanely killed.
• As with Method 3, there is a risk to the horses of physical and behavioural trauma. This risk is greater than for Method 3 as some horses have to be transported twice and held longer.
• Experiences from previous sales indicate that the market for Kaimanawa horses is small and very few horses can be successfully relocated.
• It is difficult to ensure that horses that are sold are not introduced into a stressful or impoverished situation. While the outcome for foals sold after recent musters has usually been good, the outcome has been less satisfactory for some adults.

Recommendation:

As with Method 3, if this method is used, the protocol must ensure that entire bands are mustered and the risk of injury to the animals is minimised.

Method 5. Immunocontraception

Description: Horse numbers are controlled around a set level by delivering a contraceptive to a percentage of the breeding females to decrease the birth rate.

• The intended outcome is that the horses will remain "in situ" with a low risk of experiencing physical trauma.
• The technique may require the mustering and holding horses for inoculation. If so, the comments in Method 3 regarding the protocol also apply to this method.

Recommendation:

There is no data yet available on the effect of immunocontraception on the behavioural patterns of either individual horses or bands in this population. Until such data is available, the widespread use of immunocontraception is not recommended.

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