The Tasmanian Greens believe that animals are sentient beings, capable of feeling and able to apprehend suffering. They have identifiable rights, and humans have responsibilities towards them.  When under the care and protection of humans, their welfare becomes a legal obligation with humans having a duty to minimise the physical, psychological and emotional suffering of animals, and to optimise their quality of life.

Animals and animal products are used by humans in this state for the purposes of companionship, work, recreation, exhibition, sport, entertainment, trade, clothing, research and food.  All these uses should be subject to strict legal constraints, and all cruelty to animals, whether by commission or omission, must attract penalties sufficient to act as a strong deterrent.

Many domestic animals in Tasmania are confined to farms for the purposes of breeding or eventual processing for different forms of consumption.  Meat and wool are the predominant forms in Tasmania, with live export and export of by-products for downstream production also widespread.  Extreme confinement or mistreatment for any of these purposes is unacceptable, and all forms of confinement and treatment must be subject to legislation that sets rigorous minimum standards. All environmental damage caused by industries which use animals or animal products must be minimised.

All native wildlife must be treated humanely and protected in a way that allows maximum freedom from interference, to ensure their individual wellbeing and species viability.  Their natural habitats must be restored, protected and maintained. No native animal, wild or domestic, should be held in captivity for any reason except for their safety, safe transport, protection, or the maintenance of a viable breeding stock.

No animal or bird should be trained to be aggressive towards humans or other animals, or pitted against one another, or be kept with such an intention, or be forced to perform for the purposes of profit or entertainment.

The keeping of animals for companionship should be regulated to provide their maximum safety and wellbeing.   Cat and dog overpopulation must be controlled to minimise the potential for feral number increase, and to limit their predation of native species.

The keeping of working animals must be regulated through legislation, and no animal should be kept or used for any purpose for which it is biologically and behaviourally unsuited.

Measures

Law:  legislate that all animals be provided with adequate water, food, proper handling, health care and an environment appropriate to their welfare, in consideration of their biology and behaviour;  regulate standards of care that minimise fear, pain, stress, and suffering;  end the transport overseas of live ruminants for consumption;  legislate to protect the welfare of agricultural animals, including conditions of holding and transport;  legislate for animal cruelty to be a criminal offence

Farming and Agriculture:  promote practices which incorporate the most effective methods of animal care; promote compatible farming practices which advantage domestic animals as well as native species and their habitats; work with industry to phase out all battery  production of meat, dairy and eggs, for example battery hens and sow stalls;  identify transport and handling systems which provide the maximum protection of animals;  call for state-federal negotiations to set national standards for free-range farming practices; ban the use of 1080 (except for the controlled use as part of the fox eradication program)

Education:   introduce programs which foster understanding of the human relationship with animals, our interdependence with them, and our responsibilities in regard to them; promote the practice of observing wildlife in its natural habitat

Indigenous Culture:  ensure Aboriginal people are consulted during the formation of any policy relating to the management and care of native species

State Forests, Coastal and Marine Reserves:  end recreational hunting in all state forests; end the recreational native duck shooting; ensure no commercial fishing occurs in designated marine reserves; support an absolute ban on whaling in Tasmanian waters

Product Labelling:  phase in the labelling of products to list animal ingredients and their derivation, method of production and any animal experimentation or testing methods used in that production

Animal Care:   advertise both the legal requirements and the most ethical means of treating animals; end all practices that inflict unreasonable or unnecessary suffering;   end the use of electrical driving devices on all species;  ban the import and export of animals for zoos or parks except where it assists with species conservation

Research:  support research which identifies the most appropriate treatment of animals; end cruel and unnecessary animal experimentation at state level; support national initiatives to ban the use of animals as experimental objects in military and industrial research and in cosmetics testing;   ban genetic engineering of animals, and all reproductive cloning;  support research into the most humane methods of managing and controlling introduced pest species

Feral Species:  ensure feral animal eradication is conducted efficiently and with minimal suffering; maintain strict quarantine control to minimise the potential for feral species entry into Tasmania