WIN FOR WILDLIFE: Hunters lose Constitutional Court challenge to animal wellbeing protections

The Constitutional Court has ruled in favor of wildlife, rejecting a demand by the South African Hunters and Game Conservation Association to remove provisions related to animal wellbeing from South Africa’s biodiversity legislation. The decision, hailed as a "profound victory for wild animals," brings relief to conservation and animal protection organizations that have been working for years to secure explicit recognition of animal wellbeing.

The National Council of Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA) and the EMS Foundation had intervened to oppose the association's attempt to have the word "wellbeing" removed from the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act 10 of 2004. The court's unanimous decision awards costs in favor of the foundation and emphasizes that decisions about how wild animals are managed, conserved, and used in South Africa must continue to take their wellbeing into account.

Brief written by urgent.news from Daily Maverick's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.