Anyone who has experienced a long-standing friendship with a dog cannot doubt that animals other than humans share some of our feelings  It will never be possible to know exactly what they feel (this is difficult even with members of our own human society), but  pleasure, pain, excitement, fear, anger, jealousy and affection seem to be part of the essence of being of many creatures. It may be impossible to definitively prove that animals are conscious or can suffer both physically and emotionally, but it is clearly impossible also to prove they lack such feelings, and attempts to explain their behaviour while denying such sensations seem both convoluted and unconvincing.

Ecotourism and general conservation principles focus on preserving species and not interfering with natural processes.  We strongly support these principles.  Animal welfare is a separate issue and sometimes either neglected or confused with conservation principals (e.g.  anything natural must be good, and doing anything that might be considered unnatural is automatically  inhumane, or it is okay to treat a pest species in a way that would be obviously cruel if applied to a native animal). Most often conservation and welfare go hand in hand, sometimes they are almost irrelevant to one another, and occasionally they come into conflict.

We always try not to disturb the animals we are viewing on ur tours, unless they happen to be sitting on a road, in which case we gently encourage them to move away befre the next vehicle comes around the corner.

Injured and orphaned animals are taken to carers or a veterinary surgeon irrespective of whether they are a conservation priority (we have for instance tsaken galahs, rainbow lorikeets and brushtail possums, all of whch are very common and abundant, to vets). We have also cared for injured and orphaned animals ourselves, but our erratic schedules with the tourism business make this very difficult.

Pest animals such as cane toads on our property are disposed of as swiftly and with as litte pain as possible.  It is an unpleasant task, but important for preservation of wildlife. We cannot understand the view that these animals somehow deserve to be 'punished'' for being here and that a slow and painful death for them is acceptible.  It makes no more sense than blaming the convicts that were brought to Australia for trivial offences.  There are some very real threats caused to native fauna (for instance native predators that eat cane toads are often lethally poisoned) but some methods of decreasing their populations are decidedly less humane than others. Sprayed chemicals do not act quickly and can cause a lot of distress, and clubbing is only quick if done very accurately with the toad on a hard surface and using something heavy enough to destroy the brain immediately.   Carbon dioxide is considered by many to be the most humane mehtod. Freezing is often used, but some claim pain will be felt when water particles in the body  freese into icicles, and recommend placing the toad in the main part of the fridge first -  secured within two plastic bags - until they pass out and then transferring to the freezer or destroying the head. Running over them is not necessarily instantaneous, especially if just the legs are damaged. Possibly there is no method that guarantees zero suffering, but this must be weighed against the suffering of poisoned wildlife and loss of biodiversity if toads are not controlled. There is some debate about the use of carbon dioxide , which we can only hope is soon resolved. While we strongly endorse using minimal-stress methods, it seems to us a little inconsistent when legislation allows daily castration of farm animals with no anaesthetic while objecting to any possible method of killing a toad.

Some decisions are difficult - for instance if an animal has been caught by a native predator but still alive: first impulses with animal welfare in mind may seem to dictate saving the prey, but that will deprive the predator of a meal, and interfere with ecological processes.  Usually we simply leave nature to proceed unimpeded, but there are exceptions. Some  allow any amount of suffering rather than interfere in any way with natural processes, but there are cases, such as a badly injured or disease-inflicted animals, whose slightly-premature removal from the population would not seem to affect biodiversity conservation in any way. 

We only patronize operations that keep native animals in captivity if they have a sound record of both conservation and animal welfare, which most well-established operations nowadays do..

We have refused work experience or employment to more than one person who showed callousness towards animals (including inverebrates - we can understand swatting flies and mosquitos, and do so ourselves, but a prospective employee who caught a fly, pulled its wings off, put it down and said 'now let's see you fly' was not showing the kind of attitude we welcome here).

We do not buy products that are known to involve cruelty to animals.  We do not for instance buy palm oil products (it would be possible to harvest palm oil in a way that is environmentally sustainable and in keeping with animal welfare, but it seems this is not generally being done), or egg or meat products from 'battery farms.'  We haven't eaten pig products for years because of the tiny and thoroughly boring enclosures these very active-minded animals are kept in day after day, year after year, but have recently found a source of RSPCA-approved free-range pig products.

Sample of web pages on welfare of wild animals, including some debates. See for instance:

• pages from the journal Animal People
• a pdf of an article by Chris West, director of Adelaide Zoo, on animal welfare and wildlife conservation, including some conflicts between these
• Seminar by RSPCA Convergence or conflict: Animal welfare in wildlife management and conservation.
• Animal rescue organizations and permits in South Australia
• wildlife friendly fencing (many wild creatures are badly injured each year on fences)
• Jane Goodall Institute (has both welfare and conservation aspects)

Sites related to helping local wildlife include:

• RSPCA wildlife rescue  - CALL 1300 ANIMAL
• Wildcare Australia
• ONARR (Orphaned Native Animal Raise & Release Association Inc
  
• WIRES (NSW Wildlife Information Rescue and Education Service Inc)
  
• Batcare Brisbane
  
• Wildlife Warriors hosital at Adelaide Zoo
  
• Currmbun Wildlife Sanctuary Veterinary Hospital
• Helping wildlife following wildfire. Zoos Victoria