Animal welfare and rights in South Africa

Animal welfare and rights in South Africa is about the treatment of and laws concerning non-human animals in South Africa.

The Animal Protection Act 1962 covers "domestic animals and birds, and wild animals, birds, and reptiles that are in captivity or under the control of humans." It does not, therefore, apply to fish and wild animals not under the control of humans.

The Act contains a detailed list of prohibited acts of cruelty including overloading, causing unnecessary suffering due to confinement, chaining or tethering, abandonment, unnecessarily denying food or water, keeping in a dirty or parasitic condition, or failing to provide veterinary assistance. There is also a general provision prohibiting wanton, unreasonable, or negligible commission or omission of acts resulting in unnecessary suffering. The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries for 2013/14 to 2016/17 mentions updating animal protection legislation.

The anti-cruelty provisions of the Animal Protection Act 1962 apply to farmed animals. The Livestock Welfare Coordinating Committee (LWCC), managed by the South African Meat Industry Company, has the power to deal with production and game animal issues in farming. The NSPCA serves on the LWCC and ensures that animal welfare standards are being met and promoted..

In 2014, South Africa received a D out of possible grades A,B,C,D,E,F,G on World Animal Protection's Animal Protection Index.

According to Tatjana von Bormann, coordinator of the World Wide Fund for Nature/Conservation International GreenChoice Project, "Beef in South Africa is mostly produced in feedlots or factory farms". Pigs are also farmed intensively.

The number of cattle in South Africa increased from roughly 1 million in 1994 to around 14.1 million in 2010. Beef consumption increased by 20% between 2000 and 2009. From 2007-2015 chicken consumption increased by over 5% and pig consumption by 4% per year. According to a 2013 source, roughly 1 billion chickens are slaughtered each year in South Africa.

De-beaking, de-toeing, tail-docking, tooth pulling, castration, and of livestock without anaesthetic are legal, as is confinement in gestation crates and battery cages. The NSPCA has given the pork industry until 01 January 2017 to phase out the use of gestation crates or else the organisation will prosecute the farmers and industry for contravening Section 2(1)(b) of the Animals Protection Act No 71 of 1962 for unnessesary confinement that causes suffering.

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