It is important that methods to control or manage pest animals are humane and target specific. Several policies have been developed in recent years to address the issue of humane pest animal control.

The Australian Government has developed the Australian Animal Welfare Strategy (AAWS) to ensure the humane treatment of all animals in Australia and the relative humaneness of a range of pest animal control methods has been assessed.

Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) discuss animal welfare impacts for target and non-target species and describe techniques and their application, as well as covering health and safety aspects. A Code of Practice (COP) for each of the key pest animal species provides general information on best practice management, control strategies, species biology and impact, and the humaneness of current control methods.

This section provides information on humaneness assessments for different pest control methods, as well as the model Codes of Practice and Standard Operating Procedures.

---

	Australian Animal Welfare Strategy (AAWS)
	Model Codes of Practice for the humane control of pest animals
	Standard Operating Procedures for control of pest animals
	Model for assessing the relative humaneness of pest animal control methods
	Model codes of practice and standard operating procedures for the humane capture, handling or destruction of feral animals in Australia
	Attitudinal survey on vertebrate pest management in Victoria